Asian Art by Dorinda Neave, Lara Blanchard, Marika Sardar

2

CHAPTER

Religious Art in the Age of Royal
Patronage: The Medieval Period

Without a form, how can God be multiple opposing personalities (FIG. 2–1). Another defining char-
meditated upon? acteristic of this period is the patronage of religious art by kings,
Where will the mind fix itself? queens, and their ministers.As the construction of ever more elab-
When there is nothing for the mind orate and imposing buildings became linked to the simultaneous
to attach itself to, expression of piety and royal strength, temples grew in size, and
it will slip away from meditation or will their sculptural programs were often linked to concepts that their
glide into a state of slumber. royal patrons wanted to convey.
Therefore the wise will meditate on
some form. THE RITUAL AND ARTISTIC
DEVELOPMENTS OF HINDUISM
Vishnu Samhita (Chapter 29, verses 55–57)
As already discussed, the core beliefs of Hinduism and many of
As Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism continued to develop its sacred texts were developed in the Vedic period (see Chapter
through the early centuries ce, their theologies became more 1, p. 9), but its practices continued to evolve over time, coalesc-
diverse and complex, as did their rituals, the structures in which ing into something closer to its current form around the start
the rituals were performed, and the icons on which the rituals of the first millennium ce. The religion is founded on the belief
focused. Hinduism in particular was transformed, as individual expressed in the Vedas that souls are locked in an endless cycle
worshippers became more involved in performing rites and in of rebirth (samsara) until release from the cycle is attained by
making a personal connection to the gods—privileges that had one’s own actions and beliefs (karma). However, the role of
previously been accorded only to the priestly class.This movement Hindu deities in attaining this goal is what distinguishes this belief
inspired the creation of icons that were a focus of meditation and system from Buddhism and Jainism. Worship of, and a close
contemplation. Gods that had in earlier periods been worshipped personal connection to, a deity can bring rewards in this and sub-
in abstract form came to be represented in human and animal sequent lives, but will also ultimately lead to the release from the
manifestations that made them accessible, yet also stressed their cycle of rebirths.
superhuman qualities and their manifold facets.These elements are
embodied in a relief sculpture of the god Shiva that depicts his GODS AND GODDESSES
Encompassing a constellation of minor divinities and spirits, wor-
2–1 • SHIVA RELIEF ship centers on two male gods—Shiva and Vishnu—and a female
South wall of the Great Cave, Elephanta, Maharashtra, ca. 535–550 CE. Great Goddess; each takes on many forms and incarnations. Shiva
is considered the creator of life, but he is also the destroyer of the
evil forces that threaten man and the gods; he is the divine ascetic

RELIGIOUS ART IN THE AGE OF ROYAL PATRONAGE: THE MEDIEVAL PERIOD CHAPTER 2 25

2–2 • LINGA WITH FACE OF SHIVA (EKAMUKHALINGA) probably a lotus seed (FIG. 2–3). Additionally, he wears a jeweled
Gupta period, first half of the 5th century. Sandstone, height 67⁄8″ crown, has a mark on his chest that symbolizes good fortune
(17.5 cm). Madhya Pradesh; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. (shrivasta), and bears a garland around his neck.
Samuel Eilenberg Collection, Gift of Samuel Eilenberg, 1987 (142.323).
Vishnu also takes on ten different forms, called avatars (incar-
nations), in which he has come down to earth and saved it from
a series of disasters. He has appeared as a fish, a tortoise, a boar,
a man-lion, and a dwarf. In human form he has been the three
warrior-princes Parashurama, Rama, and Krishna. The Buddha
is considered one of his avatars, and his final one will be Kalki,
whose appearance will signal the destruction of the current age.

There are many depictions of Vishnu as each of these ava-
tars. In one terra-cotta plaque, which would have decorated a
temple, he takes the form of the great hero Krishna (FIG. 2–4).
He is shown slaying Keshi, a demon who has taken the form of
a horse. The heroic struggle is conveyed by the dynamic pose of
Krishna, who pushes the beast back with his foot while choking
it with one arm and preparing to strike it with his (now missing)
other arm.

The Great Goddess is the counterpart of these male fig-
ures. Like them she appears in many guises—in fact all female
Hindu deities are manifestations of the one Goddess—and as
such she embodies many opposing energies. On the one hand

2–3 • VISHNU
Gupta period, late 4th–early 5th century. Sandstone, 27 × 161⁄2 × 53⁄4″
(68.6 × 41.9 × 14.6 cm). Northern central India; Brooklyn Museum of
Art, New York. Gift of Amy and Robert Poster (81.203).

who meditates on the nature of the universe while seated on the
peak of the sacred mountain, Kailasa.The practice of yoga, which
is predicated on bodily control and meditation, relates to this con-
templative aspect of Shiva.

In the inner sanctum of temples dedicated to Shiva, the god
is represented in the form of an erect phallus (linga; FIG. 2–2).
While many lingas are plain and undecorated, others might show
the visage of Shiva as he begins to manifest himself from the
linga. In other parts of the temple, Shiva is represented in fully
manifest human form, with a third eye and long locks of matted
hair. He typically wears a tiger skin, and carries a trident and a
small drum (see Closer Look, p. 43). Each god is also accorded a
vehicle—an animal that they ride, and which can also act as an
intercessor between the god and his devotees. Shiva’s vehicle is
the bull, Nandi.

Vishnu embodies the qualities of mercy and goodness; he is
the savior of man and creator of the universe. His vehicle is the
eaglelike Garuda. When shown in human form, Vishnu has four
arms that bear a conch shell, a disc, a mace, and a lotus flower
or seed. In a sandstone sculpture of the late fourth or early fifth
century, Vishnu holds a conch shell and a round object that is

26 CHAPTER 2 RELIGIOUS ART IN THE AGE OF ROYAL PATRONAGE: THE MEDIEVAL PERIOD

2–4 • KRISHNA KILLING THE HORSE DEMON KESHI
Gupta period, 5th century. Terra-cotta, 21 × 16 × 41⁄4″ (53.3  × 40.6 
× 10.8 cm). Uttar Pradesh; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Purchase, Florence and Herbert Irving Gift, 1991 (1991.300).

she gives and nourishes life, is the mother of all, and may appear
as the “seven goddesses” (saptamatrika), who are the wives of
the seven principal gods. In several of her manifestations, such
as Parvati (consort of Shiva), Gauri, and Uma, she embod-
ies peace and benevolence. On the other hand, she may also
appear as Durga, the fierce and relentless destroyer of the buffalo
demon who threatened the gods (FIG. 2–5), and as the dreadful
Chamunda, named for the demons Chanda and Munda, whom
she decapitated.

Another god who frequently appears in temple sculpture is
Ganesh (FIG. 2–6). He was the human son whom Parvati cre-
ated from her body one day when Shiva was away. Parvati asked
Ganesh to stand guard while she bathed, but Shiva returned and
was so enraged that this unknown guard prevented him from
seeing his wife that he cut off the boy’s head. When Parvati
pointed out his mistake, Shiva hastily replaced the head with
that of a passing elephant. Ganesh is considered auspicious; he
removes obstacles and therefore is invoked before starting any
undertaking. Ganesh’s vehicle is the rat.

2–5 • DURGA KILLING THE BUFFALO DEMON MAHISHA 2–6 • DANCING GANESH
8th century. Sandstone, 17 × 113⁄8″ (43  × 29 cm). Orissa; British 10th century. Mottled red sandstone, height 36″ (91.4 cm), width 20″
Museum, London. (50.8 cm). Kalachuri, Madhya Pradesh; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New
York. Gift of Florence and Herbert Irving, 2007 (2007.480.2).

RELIGIOUS ART IN THE AGE OF ROYAL PATRONAGE: THE MEDIEVAL PERIOD CHAPTER 2 27

L I T E R AT U R E builders in adhering to these prescriptions, but craftsmen must
Alongside the body of sacred texts surrounding the Hindu gods also have passed this body of knowledge from one generation to
and goddesses grew a collection of literary works that also pro- the next orally and by practice.
vide instruction. While the Vedas were studied within the
priestly milieu, other texts, such as the Mahabharata and the The guidelines for creating the images on and inside a temple
Ramayana—two epics in Sanskrit—were more widely popular. are also contained in the sacred texts that instruct on temple
The Mahabharata embodies precepts of moral law through its tales architecture (see Point of View, p.  35). The gods are depicted
of battle, heroism, and love. The main subject is the war between in human form so that devotees may relate to them; however,
two groups of cousins, the Pandavas and the Kauravas, although its they have great beauty, and often have superhuman characteris-
many sections discourse on a variety of subjects. However, many tics, such as multiple heads and arms, which convey their power
consider a section called the Bhagavad Gita, in which Krishna and the multiple aspects they encompass. Before commenc-
and the Pandava hero Arjuna discuss a variety of theological ing work, the sculptor underwent mental preparation and ritual
issues, to be at the very heart of the epic (see Chapter 4, p. 96). purification. He then carved the image in the form and propor-
The Ramayana tells the tale of the prince Rama (another avatar of tions, and with the individual attributes (lakshanas), dictated
Vishnu), his wife, Sita, her capture by the demon king Ravana, and by the shastras. In modeling the image, the artist also sought to
her rescue by Rama with the aid of the monkey Hanuman and a imbue the figure with a vital energy or breath (prana). After the
monkey army. Both of these epics became common subjects in art image was complete, it was placed inside the temple and conse-
and theater, spreading throughout Southeast Asia as well. crated, including a final step in which its eyes were symbolically
“opened” by painting in the pupils. The priest then summoned
THE HINDU TEMPLE AND ITS SCULPTURE the god to inhabit the image by reciting specific hymns.
As Hindu beliefs evolved, a sacred art and architecture developed
to meet the ritual and devotional needs of the religion. In the ear- Despite the existence of a highly prescriptive body of litera-
liest form of Hinduism—during the Vedic period—deities were ture, there are variations in temple form and sculptural style that
worshipped at simple outdoor shrines or small caves that held distinguish the work of different regions and different periods.
icons. From the second century bce onward, there is evidence But these variations occur more in terms of surface decoration or
that these icons were often carved in stone, although the shrines appearance than in terms of structure and proportion. There is a
themselves continued to be made out of perishable materials. As strong degree of homogeneity within each regional or chrono-
the Buddhist practice of using rock-cut caves grew more wide- logical school, reflecting the importance of certain ideals and
spread through the fourth and fifth centuries ce, similar caves strictures over the expression of the individual artist.
were also used for Hindu worship. However, from the fifth cen-
tury on, freestanding temples built in durable brick and stone also EAR LY HINDU TEMPLES
start to appear. Eventually this kind of structure would become the
pre-eminent temple type, with the excavation of rock-cut caves From the fifth through the ninth century there was a cer-
ceasing after about the tenth century. tain amount of variation in the Hindu temple form—rock-cut
cave temples were still common and the elements of the free-
The production of temples and their sculpture was not a standing temple were yet to be codified (see Context, opposite).
means of self-expression on the part of the architect or sculp- Much of this experimentation took place during the reign of the
tor; it was governed by a strict set of rules. Since the gods were Gupta dynasty (ca.  320–550), which controlled extensive terri-
thought to inhabit the temples dedicated to them, and make con- tories in the northern and north-central parts of India. Although
tact with their devotees through the icons representing them, its kings are not known to have been the patrons of any extant
temples and sculptures had to please and attract these gods. temples, the dynasty name is strongly associated with the buildings
and sculpture of this era, which are termed Gupta in style. In the
The rules that govern how a temple should be constructed Deccan—the plateau at the center of the Indian subcontinent—
were recorded in sacred texts that were, in turn, based on con- and in the south, other ruling families, such as the Kalachuris
cepts embedded in the Vedas. Taken from the term shastra, (ca. 550–620) and Pallavas (early fourth century to late ninth cen-
meaning “treatise,” these are known as shilpashastras (treatise on tury), can be more directly connected to temple construction.
architecture and/or the making of images). They describe the
series of purifications that must take place on the land where a NORTH INDIAN TEMPLES OF THE GUPTA ERA
temple will be built, and they provide the mandalas (diagrams The 20 Hindu cave temples at Udayagiri, in central India, date
representing the cosmos) on which different parts of the temple to the late fourth to early fifth century. Although approximately
and its subsidiary shrines must be laid out. These texts also spec- contemporary to the Buddhist caves of Ajanta (see Chapter 1,
ify the different elements of a temple, their relative proportions, FIGS. 1–22–1–25), they take a different form. They do not include
and their decoration (see Context, opposite). Priests involved in the chaityas with stupas or viharas found at that site, but instead
the construction of temples would have assisted the architect and

28 CHAPTER 2 RELIGIOUS ART IN THE AGE OF ROYAL PATRONAGE: THE MEDIEVAL PERIOD

CONTEXT | The Hindu Temple

Freestanding Hindu temples are structured around an inner which may be understood as representing the energy radiating
sanctum called the garbhagriha (literally “womb chamber”). from the sanctum.
The icon of the deity to whom the temple is dedicated stands
here. In a Shiva temple, the icon is a linga; in a Vishnu temple it Devotional acts may also be performed at home, but
is a depiction of Vishnu as one of his avatars. There are fewer worshippers come to the temple for a specific experience:
temples dedicated to the Goddess than to either Shiva or darshan, the act of mutual seeing, when the god inhabiting an
Vishnu, but in them the garbhagriha houses either an icon of one icon and the worshipper view each other. Thus Hindu ritual
of her many forms or a yoni, an oval-shaped altar that represents does not necessarily call for communal worship, but over
the vagina. Most often, however, the Goddess appears in time, spaces where communities could gather for festivals
temples of Vishnu and Shiva as the consort of these gods: and ceremonies became a part of the standard temple form.
Lakshmi for Vishnu, and Parvati for Shiva. These could be either pillared halls (mandapas) or porticos
(ardhamandapas), which enclosed the temple precinct and
The garbhagriha of any temple is a small, dark room with demarcated the space and buildings as sacred within the
space for the devotee to circle the icon, in a rite similar to the surrounding town or village.
circumambulation of the Buddhist stupa. Sometimes this is a
corridor within the temple, and sometimes it is a space outside Temples developed different regional styles in the sixth
the building on the platform on which it is raised. to eight centuries, and contemporary texts named these the
Nagara (northern), Dravida (southern), and Vesantara (mixed).
Directly above the divine image of the garbhagriha is the The most distinctive difference between the northern and
imagined axis of the world that links the center of the earth southern styles is the shape of the tower above the garbhagriha.
to the human realms and, above them, the heavens. The axis In the north it is more fluted, and is topped with a round,
travels upward through the garbhagriha’s towering roof—called ribbed finial, while in the south the tower is made up of several
a shikhara in the north and a vimana in the south. This roof stepped-back stories, culminating in a dome-shaped structure.
represents the heavenly mountain abode of the gods. The walls In the Deccan in central India, temples of each type were built,
on the exterior of the temple are typically composed of multiple and some temples incorporated elements of both. The term
projections that replicate the form of the temple as a whole, and Vesantara is thought to refer to these mixed-style buildings.

axis of the amalaka
universe
shikhara mandapas
garbhagriha

image

plinth

Northern-style temple

garbhagriha capstone mandapas
image
vimana
axis of the
universe

plinth

Southern-style temple

RELIGIOUS ART IN THE AGE OF ROYAL PATRONAGE: THE MEDIEVAL PERIOD CHAPTER 2 29

2–7 • EXTERIOR
OF CAVE 6,
UDAYAGIRI
Madhya Pradesh,
inscription dated 401.

comprise a small garbhagriha (shrine) in which the image of the stands on a square plinth; the building’s original roof and the
deity is located, or shallow niches onto which narrative reliefs are four corner shrines are now missing. On one side of the struc-
carved. Of the Gupta-era monuments, the Udayagiri caves provide ture is a doorway into the sanctum, and on each of the other
at least some connection to a Gupta king, for an inscription at the three sides is a relief panel with images presented, like those in
site states that a minister of Chandragupta II (r. ca. 380–ca. 415) the cave temples, for contemplation by the devotee. Usually one
visited the site with this monarch. circles a temple in a clockwise direction, but the contents of the

Cave 6 at Udayagiri has a garbhagriha fronted by a porch with 2–8 • DEOGARH TEMPLE
reliefs bearing images of the gods, their female consorts, and Deogarh, Uttar Pradesh, ca. 530.
other divine beings (FIG. 2–7). As a group these reliefs demon-
strate the advanced state that Hindu iconography, and the
relationship of image to ritual, had achieved by this period. The
elephant-headed Ganesh, usually invoked at the start of prayer,
appears to the left of the door. Continuing to the right, the wor-
shipper passes a small relief of Vishnu, followed by the guardians
that flank and protect the doorway to the sanctum, another
image of Vishnu, and finally one of the Goddess as Durga.
She grasps weapons in 11 of her hands, while holding aloft
the defeated buffalo demon in the twelfth. To the right of this
image, on the wall facing Ganesh, is a relief of the saptamatrikas.
The order and arrangement of subjects would later be replicated
in freestanding temples, guiding the faithful from the beginning
of prayer with Ganesh to images of Durga’s victory, as a meta-
phor for spiritual victory.

Functioning in the same manner but with an entirely differ-
ent form is the Vishnu temple at Deogarh, dating to the early
sixth century (FIG. 2–8). This building is among the earliest free-
standing temples to survive. It is a simple square structure that

30 CHAPTER 2 RELIGIOUS ART IN THE AGE OF ROYAL PATRONAGE: THE MEDIEVAL PERIOD

reliefs here suggest an atypical counterclockwise progression. devotion. The north side of the temple features the story of a
On the south side of the temple is a scene of Vishnu reclining king turned elephant, who must be rescued from the water beast
on the serpent of infinity, Ananta (FIG. 2–9), and to its left is an that has caught his leg. The story of his eventual rescue after
image of Ganesh. The relief relates the story of the creation of praying represents release through devotion. Finally, in arriving
the universe, which the recumbent Vishnu dreams into exis- at the doorway to the garbhagriha on the fourth side of the tem-
tence. Holding Vishnu’s right foot is his consort, the goddess ple, there is a composition of multiple jambs (doorframe sides)
Lakshmi, representing the female energy that inspired Vishnu’s and lintels (horizontal beams at the top of a doorway) adorned
act, and below him are the coils of Ananta, whose multiple heads with guardian figures, and the river goddesses Ganga and
frame Vishnu’s sleeping visage. Seated above him on a lotus is Yamuna—an ensemble of motifs and figures that would become
the first being to be created—the god Brahma (alternate form of standard at the entrance to temple sanctums in both the Hindu
Brahman, see Chapter 1, p. 9), here a four-headed figure flanked and Jain contexts (FIG. 2–10).
by other gods and goddesses. The lotus is meant to grow from
Vishnu’s navel, but for reasons of composition the stalk of the THE TEMPLES OF THE DECCAN
blossom instead rises behind the sleeping figure. Contemporary to the Guptas a number of independent dynas-
ties were located throughout central and southern India, and both
Next, the worshipper would have encountered a relief of the rock-cut and freestanding temples were established in these areas.
sages Nara and Narayana on the east side of the temple. These During the reign of the Kalachuri dynasty (ca.  550–620), many
are two of the minor incarnations of Vishnu embodying austere Hindu and Buddhist cave sites were built across the Deccan. Also
interesting is the mid-sixth-century group at Elephanta, an island
2–9 • VISHNU RECLINING ON THE SERPENT ANANTA off the western coast and today near the city of Mumbai.
ca. 530. Sandstone, height 5′ (1.5 m) (approx.). Back wall, Deogarh
temple, Uttar Pradesh. Of the five Hindu and two Buddhist caves on the island,
the so-called Great Cave is the most impressive. It has a central
space, approximately 130 feet (40 meters) long, that functions as
a pillared mandapa (hall), with a freestanding garbhagriha on the
west and subsidiary shrines on either end. The garbhagriha has

2–10 • SANCTUM DOORWAY
ca. 530. Deogarh temple, Uttar Pradesh.

RELIGIOUS ART IN THE AGE OF ROYAL PATRONAGE: THE MEDIEVAL PERIOD CHAPTER 2 31

2–11 • GREAT CAVE, ELEPHANTA and fierce. In style, the Elephanta reliefs represent a development
ca. 535–550. Maharastra. from the more austere Gupta-era images seen above, prefiguring
the more ornate forms of sculpture that would become popular
entrances on all four sides that are guarded by greater than life- in the seventh century and later.
size attendants supported by dwarves (FIG. 2–11).
Contemporary to the Kalachuris, and controlling territories
This temple is dedicated to Shiva, and a series of reliefs relat- just to their east, were the Chalukyas (r. ca.  543–twelfth cen-
ing to this god and his worship adorn the walls of the cave. At tury). Their capital shifted frequently, and so four cities were
the center of the south wall, facing the entrance to the cave, successively built up by royal patrons—including Aihole and
is a multifaced image of Shiva that represents the god’s differ- Badami, where large sacred precincts with numerous rock-cut
ent aspects, as described in sacred texts (see FIG. 2–1). The visage and freestanding temples were established next to one another.
directly facing the viewer is the serene Sadyojata. On the left is The freestanding temples were built on a range of plans. The
the fierce Bhairava, and on the right is Vamadeva, symbolizing unusual Durga temple, for instance, has an apsidal, or curved,
self hood. The two last faces are implied; on top, Ishana, repre- end around the inner sanctum (FIG. 2–12). The building is raised
senting esoteric mysticism, and behind, on a platform with multiple moldings (decorative strips). On
the wrathful Kapila. The imposing com- the east side, a porch with massive columns and a heavy roof
position measures over 18  feet (5  meters) leads into a hallway with the shrine at the rear, with a narrow
tall—almost the entire height of the cave. passageway for circumambulating the icon. Another passage-
To its right another relief depicts Shiva way surrounds this inner core on the outside of the building; it is
receiving the River Ganges in his hair decorated with relief panels depicting Durga killing the buffalo
to prevent its gushing from destroying demon, Vishnu as the boar Varaha, and the sun god Surya. The
the earth. To the left, Shiva appears in temple is thought to be dedicated to Surya, despite its popular
his half-male, half-female form. On name mistakenly associating it with the goddess Durga. A tower
other walls Shiva is shown with his con- in the northern style (see Context, p.  29) once rose above the
sort, Parvati, and destroying the demons sanctum; now only the lower levels remain, although the ribbed
Andhaka and Gaja. finial that capped the tower lies on the ground nearby.

As at the Deogarh temple, the reliefs in MAMALLAPURAM IN SOUTH INDIA
the Great Cave work together as a cohesive In southern India, the Pallava kings (early fourth century to late
set of ideas on which to meditate. Here, the ninth century) are associated with dozens of temples in the north-
iconographic program stresses the unity of ern part of Tamil Nadu state, many of which are in the royal capital,
different aspects of creation in Shiva: male Kanchipuram. At Mamallapuram, the kingdom’s port city, a series
and female, protector and destroyer, serene

2–12 • DURGA TEMPLE
late 7th–early 8th century. Aihole, Karnataka.

32 CHAPTER 2 RELIGIOUS ART IN THE AGE OF ROYAL PATRONAGE: THE MEDIEVAL PERIOD

of these kings added their mark to a site that now contains sev- and 49  feet (15  meters) high, and faces those arriving at
eral cave temples, monolithic structures, and large relief tableaux Mamallapuram by sea (FIG. 2–13). On the left side of the com-
(pictures). While some scholars have assigned these works to spe- position the largest figure is Shiva, who presents something to
cific Pallava rulers, others hesitate to rely so heavily on the site’s an emaciated ascetic who stands on one leg with his arms raised.
inscriptions, which use epithets that were adopted by several dif- Below them is a domed temple inside which an icon of Vishnu
ferent monarchs. Instead, they more generally date work at the site is visible. In the cleft are serpent-bodied figures representing the
to between the mid-seventh and the mid-eighth century, with a snake deities associated with water. On the right are numerous
period of intense activity under Narasimhavarman I (r. 630–668), figures above a family of elephants. Also shown is a cat whose
who added substantially to the site in commemoration of a victory posture mimics that of the ascetic on the left.
in 642 against the rival Chalukya dynasty. In sum, the site includes
seven cave temples, a large relief on an outcrop facing the ocean, It seems that an interpretation of these images was left inten-
a freestanding temple close to the shoreline, and several rock- tionally open to the viewer, for the story can be read either as
cut temples—each hewn from a single boulder—that are located that of Arjuna, the Pandava hero of the Mahabharata, who tries to
about half a mile from the main hill. get aid from Shiva by retreating to the wilderness and living as
an ascetic, or of Bhagiratha, who begs Shiva to protect the earth
The narrative reliefs adorning these structures are their most from the descent of the River Ganges by catching the water in
remarkable features. These reliefs include mythical stories about his hair (a scene also represented at Elephanta). In either reading,
Vishnu, Durga, and Shiva, some of which incorporate images of elements of the story are not laid out in a side-by-side or regular
Narasimhavarman and his forefathers. One intriguing composi- fashion, but instead, successive anecdotes are found in different
tion covers a massive rock formation made up of two boulders parts of the composition.
with a cleft between them. It measures 98 feet (30 meters) across
The monolithic temples at Mamallapuram are technically
2–13 • RELIEF SHOWING EITHER THE DESCENT exercises in rock-carving, but replicate freestanding temple
OF THE GANGES OR ARJUNA’S PENANCE types of the distinctly southern style of architecture, including
Early–mid-7th century. 49 × 98′ (15 × 30 m). Mamallapuram, several barrel-vaulted examples. The so-called Dharmaraja
Tamil Nadu. shrine was probably intended as a temple to Shiva, although it
was never completed. Each of the four sides was intended to

RELIGIOUS ART IN THE AGE OF ROYAL PATRONAGE: THE MEDIEVAL PERIOD CHAPTER 2 33

2–14 •
DHARMARAJA
SHRINE
mid–late 7th century.
Mamallapuram,
Tamil Nadu.

have a porch supported by pillars framing niches with sculpture thus represents the maturation of the Mathura style after many
(FIG. 2–14). The roof that rises above the structure has three sto- centuries of development (FIG. 2–15). The Buddha’s
ries of diminishing size, each comprised of a row of miniature robe covers both shoulders and is depicted as a
barrel-vaulted shrines, culminating in an octagonal cupola, or body-hugging sheath, the folds of which
domelike structure. appear as regularly spaced strings. His
body is full and fleshy beneath
THE CONVERGENCE OF JAIN, this garment. His hair has
BUDDHIST, AND HINDU become a mass of snail-shell
TRADITIONS curls. His feet (now missing)
are widely spaced. In addition to
During this period, a sizable Buddhist and Jain population still these stylistic changes, a new spir-
existed in India, and works of art relating to the practice of these itual dimension is also present in the
faiths continued to be made. In comparing the production of Gupta-period works that differen-
architecture and icons, and even the devotional developments of tiates them from earlier Mathura
the three religions, many similarities emerge. sculptures. Instead of regarding the
viewer with open eyes, this Buddha
SCULPTURE OF THE GUPTA ERA directs his gaze downward, a sign
In northern India under the Gupta kings, two centers for sculp- of his transcendent mental state. He
ture—Mathura and Sarnath—were particularly renowned. Statues appears in a flawless state, with no
from these centers were often sent to outlying temples and stupas, trace of passion, egotism, or doubt.
and in turn inspired locally made works in the same styles. This
resulted in a certain homogeneity in the works produced in differ- 2–15 • STANDING BUDDHA
ent parts of the subcontinent. Gupta period, ca. 319–500. Mottled
red sandstone, 3311⁄16 × 163⁄4″
Sculpture of the Gupta era retained some elements of the (85.5 cm × 42.5 cm). Mathura;
iconography developed in the first and second centuries, and Metropolitan Museum of Art, New
especially that produced at Mathura itself (see Chapter 1, FIGS. York. Purchase, Enid A. Haupt Gift,
1–1, 1–28, and 1–29). A Buddha image from the fifth century 1979 (1979.6).

34 CHAPTER 2 RELIGIOUS ART IN THE AGE OF ROYAL PATRONAGE: THE MEDIEVAL PERIOD

POINT OF VIEW | Part III of the Vishnudharmottarapurana

The Vishnudharmottarapurana is a treatise compiled over were to be presented in idealized form, and artists had to work
many years by many authors. It deals with a great number of within a set of strict rules that regulated the proportions and
subjects, including astrology, geography, rhetoric, dance, and iconography of any visual image. In the text, these values are
the arts. It is believed that Part III, the section on painting, was conveyed to the reader as a series of instructions from the sage
probably written in the seventh century. This work is useful in Markandeya to the king Vajra.
helping modern viewers of ancient Indian painting and sculpture
understand how artists approached their work: Gods and humans Below is an extract from Stella Kramrisch’s The Vishnudharmottara
Part III: A Treatise on Indian Painting and Image-Making (1928).

Markandeya said: As there are five types of men according to requisite. An eye should be a form of a bow or like the abdomen
the measurement of the various limbs and their parts, so, oh of a fish or like a petal of the blue lotus or of the white lotus. The
best of men [meaning Vajra], it must be noted that there are eye assumes the shape of a bow when looking at the ground
five types of women. Each one should be placed near her man. in meditation. An eye of the form of a fish-abdomen should be
Every one of them should be made to reach the shoulders of painted in the case of women and lovers. An eye of the shape
the man in proper proportion. The waist of a woman should be of the blue lotus petal is said to be of the ever-calm. An eye of
made two angulas (a unit of measurement) thinner than that of the white lotus petal befits the frightened and crying. An eye of
a man. The hip, on the other hand, should be made wider, by grindstone shape is in its place with the angry and woe-stricken.
adding four angulas. The breasts should be made charming The face beautiful all over should be fully developed: well-
and proportionate to the measurement of the chest. All kings finished, benignant, marked with all the auspicious marks, not
should be endowed with the marks of mahapurushas and all triangular and not crooked.
sovereign rulers should be made with webbed hands and feet.
And a circle of hair should be drawn auspiciously between their Gods should be represented according to the Hamsa-measure.
eyebrows. On the hands of kings should certainly be drawn They should have hairs on their eye-lashes and eye-brows only,
three beautiful auspicious lines slenderly curving and resembling their body should be entirely devoid of hairs. Those who live in
the scratches made by a hare. The hair should be represented heaven have always smiling faces and smiling eyes, and look like
auspicious, fine, resembling the deep blue sapphire, adorned youths of the age of sixteen.
by its own greasiness and with the undulation of that essential

The output of Sarnath shares several stylistic features with
Mathuran works, such as the body type, the tightly curled hair,
and the wide-legged stance (FIG. 2–16). But the Sarnath robe of
this Buddha has no folds, and it ends in a protruding shelflike
hem (now lost). Certain statues, including this one, are also dis-
tinguished by the belt worn only by the Sarvastivadin sect of
Buddhist monks who were based at Sarnath. The two schools
can further be distinguished from each other by the material
used—red sandstone in Mathura and tan sandstone in Sarnath.

While Sarnath, as home to the revered site where the Buddha
started teaching, produced only Buddhist sculpture, Mathura
also produced Hindu and Jain icons. This phenomenon was not
uncommon, as sculptors and craftsmen are known to have trav-
eled from construction site to construction site, sculpture to
sculpture without regard to the religious affiliation of the proj-
ect or indeed to their own beliefs. Thus the manner of carving
Buddhist figures at Mathura was also applied to Hindu and Jain
icons and to the sculpture on temples throughout the Gupta

2–16 • BUDDHA
Gupta period, first half of the 5th century. Sandstone,
height 4′811⁄16″ (1.44 m). Sarnath; British Museum, London.

35

2–17 •
KAILASHANATH
TEMPLE
mid–late 8th century.
Ellora, Aurangabad,
Maharashtra.

cultural sphere. When comparing the Gupta Buddha to the (FIG. 2–17). It has a gateway leading into a court measuring 295
roughly contemporary sculpture at Deogarh (FIG. 2–9), or Vishnu by 173 feet (90 by 53 meters). On axis with the gateway is a small
holding a conch (FIG. 2–3), the shared traits of smooth body con- pavilion (the Nandi shrine) that houses a statue of Nandi, the
tours and graceful poses, peaceful expressions, minimal jewelry, bull vehicle of Shiva, and a shrine dedicated to Shiva himself
and elegant hairstyles immediately come through. Faces tend (FIG. 2–18) with a richly decorated exterior surface. The court-
to be broad, with thick pursed lips, and waists are slim. In the yard also contains two life-size elephants and two monumental
use of certain features, such as mudras (see Chapter 1, Context,
p. 16), iconography was also shared across the religions. 2–18 • SHIVA TEMPLE OF THE KAILASHANATH TEMPLE
mid–late 8th century. Ellora, Aurangabad, Maharashtra.
THE THREE RELIGIONS OF ELLORA
The convergence of traditions may also be found in the form of
sacred spaces, especially at the cave and rock-cut temples of Ellora,
near Ajanta in the Deccan. Ellora started as a Buddhist pilgrimage
center, and then several caves dedicated to Shiva were excavated
in the late sixth century, close to the waterfall that dramati-
cally defines the site. As the final cave of this group was finished,
work started on 12 Buddhist caves to their south. Their excava-
tion is usually dated to between 600 and 730. After this, between
the mid-eighth and tenth century, a final set of Hindu and Jain
caves were added. These excavations were funded by a combi-
nation of royal patrons and ordinary citizens. The main Hindu
temple—the Kailashanath—was the donation of the Rashtrakuta
king Krishna (r. 757–773), while the construction of the Jain caves
was supported by monks and laypeople (in some cases, husbands
and wives), who appear as small human figures venerating the Jain
deities. A similar cross-section of the population appears to have
patronized the Buddhist caves.

The impressive Kailashanath temple represents the third
phase of work at the site, in the mid- to late eighth century.
Although rock-cut, it replicates a freestanding temple complex

36 CHAPTER 2 RELIGIOUS ART IN THE AGE OF ROYAL PATRONAGE: THE MEDIEVAL PERIOD

columns. All these elements have been hewn from the top down The Buddhist caves at Ellora, which represent the final phase
out of the living rock—a process that took 15 years. of the Buddhist rock-cut tradition in central India, include
many forms that had evolved in response to the developments
The temple is named after Shiva’s mountain home. It includes of Mahayana Buddhism. Cave 5, for instance, consists of a cen-
a pillared hall preceding the sanctum enshrining a linga, and a tral hall surrounded by small cells and three shrines. The hall
corridor (open to the air) that surrounds the sanctum and provides includes two long lines of benches, attached to the cave floor,
access to five additional shrines. The exterior of the temple is cov- where monks may have sat during ritual recitations. A three-
ered with numerous deities, human couples (considered auspicious story structure, also preceded by a courtyard with a gateway,
in this setting), and other figures. The relief panels and additional is the most massive excavation (FIG. 2–20). Each of its floors is
caves surrounding the temple are all decorated with imagery
primarily relating to Shiva in one of his numerous aspects. 2–20 • TIN THAL
Ellora, Cave 12, Aurangabad, Maharashtra.
A complex called the Indhra Sabha is the main focus of the
Jain caves. Like the Kailashanath, it consists of a courtyard
entered by a gateway, with a freestanding temple, a monumen-
tal pillar, and a monolithic elephant at the center (FIG. 2–19). The
temple at the heart of the complex contains an image of the sar-
vatobhadra, a sculpture of four Jinas placed back to back so that
they face the four cardinal directions. After entering this shrine,
the devotee would have visited the surrounding caves arranged
on two stories. Each one has a different decorative program, fea-
turing icons of the Jinas, frequently shown with smaller monks,
nuns, and laypeople in the act of worship. Some of the caves
replicate the samavasarana, the celestial meeting hall built for
the Mahavira’s first sermon after attaining enlightenment (see
Chapter 1, p. 21), and are filled with numerous worshippers of
different social strata—and in some places, animals—in reliefs
surrounding a central shrine.

2–19 • INDHRA SABHA
Ellora, Aurangabad, Maharashtra.

RELIGIOUS ART IN THE AGE OF ROYAL PATRONAGE: THE MEDIEVAL PERIOD CHAPTER 2 37

larger than any of the caves at Ajanta (see Chapter 1, pp. 18–19).
The shrines in this structure include the Buddha with the
bodhisattvas Avalokiteshvara and Vajrapani, and a group of
eight bodhisattvas, each identified by an attribute. The structure
of this cave was possibly meant to serve a monastic rite that had
three separate stages and would have been performed on each of
the three floors of the cave.

In practice each type of space functioned differently, but cer-
tain iconographic elements used throughout the site attest to the
confluence of symbolism across the three religions practiced at
Ellora. Most common is the imagery of mountains, representing
Mount Meru to the Jains and Buddhists, and Mount Kailasa to
the Hindus. Also widespread were semidivine figures of yakshas
and yakshis, and the amorous couples called mithunas considered
auspicious in all three beliefs. Most interesting is the appear-
ance in some of the mid- to late ninth-century Hindu reliefs of
small images of devotees next to the gods—a device seemingly
adopted from the Jain caves built just prior.

BUDDHISM IN SRI LANKA

While on the wane by this point in India, Buddhism would flour-
ish across Southeast Asia, where it had spread via routes of trade
and commerce (see Chapter 5, pp.  110–120). In Sri Lanka, the
religion had become prevalent in the period of the great Maurya
king Ashoka (r. 272–231 bce), and, because of this ancient asso-
ciation and the location of important Buddhist relics there, the
island became an important locus for pilgrimage, particularly from
Burma,Thailand, and Cambodia.

At the capital Anuradhapura, numerous monastic com-
plexes and large stupas on a scale even larger than those in
India were constructed, and they were adorned with icono-
graphic programs, giving rise to a great tradition of sculpture.
Alongside images of the Buddha were many bodhisattvas, the
saviors of Mahayana Buddhist belief. Of these, the bodhisat-
tva Avalokiteshvara was the most popular because of his vow to
defer enlightenment until all beings had attained it. His com-
panion Tara is the supreme goddess of Buddhism—illustrated
here in a gilded bronze icon from Anuradhapura (FIG. 2–21).
Tara is typically depicted as a voluptuous woman standing with
one hip thrust provocatively forward. She raises her left hand in
the vitarka mudra, a variant of the gesture of teaching, while her
right hand suggests the fulfillment of wishes, varada mudra.

2–21 • TARA LATER DEVELOPMENTS IN
8th century. Cast and gilded bronze, height (not including TEMPLE ARCHITECTURE
plinth) 561⁄4 × 175⁄16 × 113⁄5″ (143 × 44 × 29.5 cm).
Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka; British Museum, London. After the early period of experimentation, as the freestanding
temple became the dominant temple type, the different regional
styles of the sixth to eighth century crystallized into distinct and

38 CHAPTER 2 RELIGIOUS ART IN THE AGE OF ROYAL PATRONAGE: THE MEDIEVAL PERIOD

codified traditions: the Nagara (northern), Dravida (southern), and
Vesantara (mixed) styles (see Context, p. 29). In each, the projec-
tions on each side of the temple radically multiplied over time,
increasing the complexity of these structures as well as the available
wall space for ever more ambitious programs of sculpture.

ORISSA AND EASTERN INDIAN TRADITIONS 2–23 • SUN TEMPLE
In the eastern Indian state of Orissa, a variant of the northern style ca. 1026 CE. Modhera, Gujarat.
of architecture developed that featured many unique elements and
an entirely local vocabulary. Key to this evolution was the town of
Bhubaneshwar, where temples dating from the seventh century set
strong foundations for the later developments of this region.Today
it is home to dozens of temples dating to between the seventh and
the thirteenth century.

Coming at a later stage and epitomizing the fully evolved
Orissan tradition is the elaborate Lingaraja temple of the
mid-eleventh century (FIG. 2–22). The complex to which this
temple belongs includes a central temple, along with other
temples and shrines, contained within a walled, rectangular
compound. The Lingaraja temple itself consists of four sepa-
rate but linked elements that are aligned from east to west. Built
first, in the last part of the eleventh century, were the shrine
with a tall tower and the adjoining hall. Halls for offerings and
for dance, both dating to the mid-twelfth century, were later
attached in front of these.

Each unit is successively taller, with roof shapes culminat-
ing in the curvilinear tower over the sanctum that reaches a

2–22 • LINGARAJA TEMPLE height of over 125 feet (38 meters). This tower is characterized
mid-11th century. Bhubaneshwar, Orissa. by a series of closely laid horizontal courses, capped by a massive
ribbed finial. The temple is said to enshrine a self-manifest-
ing Shiva linga that miraculously appeared under a mango tree.
On the exterior of the temple, the female figure abounds, as do
mithunas. This type of imagery was applied to later temples in
Orissa, and to others elsewhere in India, such as the temples at
Khajuraho, where erotic imagery is even more prevalent.

JAIN AND HINDU TEMPLES IN GUJARAT
In western India, the Solanki dynasty (mid-tenth to mid-thir-
teenth century) controlled a kingdom of extraordinary wealth,
owing mostly to its ports with their connections to the sea lanes
linking the Middle East with the rest of Asia.Their lands extended
across several present-day states, from northern Rajasthan into
southern Gujarat and the western part of Madhya Pradesh. The
temples built during this dynasty have a profusion of carved detail,
and numerous projections along each side, mirrored in the con-
struction of the tower above, with one central spire surrounded by
several smaller spires.

At Modhera is an eleventh-century temple dedicated to the
sun god Surya that is oriented due east, positioning the shrine to
receive the full force of the sun’s rays during the equinoxes (FIG.
2–23). Its construction is attributed to the early part of the reign

RELIGIOUS ART IN THE AGE OF ROYAL PATRONAGE: THE MEDIEVAL PERIOD CHAPTER 2 39

of Bhima I (r. 1022–1063), as an inscription suggests the build- 2–25 • CEILING IN THE VIMALA TEMPLE
ing was in use by 1026. The temple has three separate units, a completed 1032, repaired ca. 1300. Mount Abu, Rajasthan
freestanding pillared porch, and an adjoined assembly hall and
sanctum, which has an enclosed passage for circumambulation.
The tall tower that would have stood above the shrine has col-
lapsed, leaving the sanctum’s interior ceiling structure visible.
Physically even larger than the temple is the reservoir in front of
it, which is lined with stone stairs and numerous shrines.

Bhima’s minister Vimala was responsible for an equally
spectacular temple at Mount Abu (in the neighboring state of
Rajasthan), devoted to Jain worship. The Mahavira is supposed
to have visited this site, and so it was already an important place
of pilgrimage when Vimala chose it for his temple. His building,
built in black stone, was mostly destroyed in a late thirteenth-
century attack that left only the sanctum of the eleventh-century
building standing. However, the entire temple was rebuilt in
white marble ca. 1300.

Vimala’s temple—as the building is still known—is enclosed
within a wall lined with 52 shrines with icons of the Jinas, each
seated under a stone-carved canopy of a different design (FIG.
2–24). The temple itself is oriented east–west, with three halls

2–24 • CELL CONTAINING A JAIN TIRTHANKARA leading up to a sanctum. The first and second halls are open,
Vimala temple, completed 1032, repaired ca. 1300. Mount Abu, while the third hall is enclosed and is connected to the sanctum.
Rajasthan. A separate pavilion in front of the temple has a ceiling depicting
the cosmos (FIG. 2–25), shown as made up of concentric rings of
animals and peoples, with the images of 12 goddesses of esoteric
knowledge positioned across them.

EROTICISM AND KHAJURAHO IN
CENTRAL INDIA
Between about 954 and 1150, the Chandella kings of central
India built up the approximately 5-mile (13-kilometer)-square
site of Khajuraho, comprising numerous temples set next to bath-
ing tanks and artificial lakes. Legend recounts that the city once
held 85 temples, but today only 25 are known, and they are ded-
icated to Shiva,Vishnu, the Goddess, and the sun god Surya. After
the Chandella ruler Yashovarman (r.  925–950) captured a statue
of Vishnu from his Pratihara overlord Devapala, work at the site
commenced with a new temple for this statue, which was brought
to completion during the reign of Dhangadeva (r.  950–999) in
954. Subsequent kings continued to add to the complex, building
ever bigger monuments.At the same time that work started on the
Hindu temples, at least six Jain temples were constructed at the
site, funded by the local Jain community. As well as adding glory
to the Chandella crown, this concentration of magnificent temples
may have served as a center for religious scholarship.

In style, the Kandariya temple is typical of Khajuraho, though
on a grand scale. Built by the king Vidyadhara (r.  1004–1035)
in ca.  1030, it stands on a raised platform with an entrance
on the east, and comprises various units—portico, assembly

40 CHAPTER 2 RELIGIOUS ART IN THE AGE OF ROYAL PATRONAGE: THE MEDIEVAL PERIOD

2–26 • KANDARIYA
TEMPLE
ca. 1030. Khajuraho,
Madhya Pradesh.

hall, vestibule, sanctum—all joined with successively higher
roof towers (FIG. 2–26). Around the sanctum, also within the
enclosed space of the temple, is a passage for circumambulation
that has its own decorated moldings and rows of divine figures.
The temple is dedicated to Shiva in the form of Sadashiva, the
Eternal Shiva, depicted with three heads facing different direc-
tions, symbolizing the contradictory nature of the divine. Inside
the garbhagriha is a linga representing Shiva in his most pri-
mordial form, framed by an entrance evolved from the basic
sanctum doorway form as seen at Deogarh, composed of mul-
tiple jambs and lintels, images of the river goddesses Ganga and
Yamuna, door guardians, and auspicious motifs (FIG. 2–27). On
the exterior of the temple, the walls are conceived as a series of
projections and recesses, and they are divided into multiple hori-
zontal registers, including bands of moldings, filled with figures.

Although the iconography of the temple encompasses many
subjects, the erotic sculpture here has gained the most notice.
Scholars of the nineteenth and early twentieth century believed
the images of curvaceous women with their breasts bared and
couples engaged in acrobatic acts of intercourse reflected the sex-
ual mores of the Chandella kings under the sway of the Kapalika
sect of Hinduism. However, a more nuanced study of the subject
matter of the sculpture and its placement on and in the buildings

2–27 • DOORWAY AND SANCTUM WITH A SHIVA LINGA
Kandariya temple, ca. 1030. Khajuraho, Madhya Pradesh.

RELIGIOUS ART IN THE AGE OF ROYAL PATRONAGE: THE MEDIEVAL PERIOD CHAPTER 2 41

suggests these images had a specific role in activating the power The major construction project also involved diverting the waters
of the temple. As a shilpashastra (this one from Orissa) explains, of the nearby river to run past the buildings.
“As a house without a wife, as a frolic without a woman, so with-
out a figure of a woman the monument will be of inferior quality The temple is raised on a tall platform and consists of a long
and bear no fruit.” The images of women and couples also pro- roofed mandapa leading to a square sanctum. The sanctum,
vided protection, averting evil and misfortune. Moreover, it housing a Shiva linga, may be circumambulated in passages at
appears that the images of couples are specifically deployed at the the ground and second-story levels of the building. On the out-
juncture of the sanctum and the preceding hall in a punning of side, the elevation reflects this division into two stories, with
their “joining,” while the numerous figures of women repre- two rows of niches, each containing a single divine image.
sent auspicious displays of fertility, prosperity, and abundance, in Eschewing the erotic imagery found more commonly in the
much the same way female images did on earlier monuments (see north, sculpture at this and other southern temples is restricted
Chapter 1, FIG. 1–17). This theory is supported by the use of differ- to the gods and the stories associated with them. The top-
ent types of “joined” figures at other temple sites. level niches each hold an identical statue of Shiva in his form as
Tripurantaka, the destroyer of forts, who must have been cho-
CHOLA TEMPLES AND THEIR BRONZES sen in connection with Rajaraja’s military successes. Below,
IN SOUTHERN INDIA Shiva appears in many other manifestations (FIG. 2–28). The two
In the Chola lands of southernmost India, temple towers grew windows in the center of the rear wall of the temple correspond
ever more massive.The Rajarajeshwara temple, completed in 1010 to the location of the sanctum, and allow light and air into the
in Thanjavur, is several times larger than those in Gujarat or Orissa, passages that surround it. On the lower level, the windows are
and it is rendered even more monumental by the walls that frame flanked by two massive and fierce door guardians. Inside the
it and the gateways that allow entrance to its sacred precinct.The temple, the walls of the passage around the sanctum bear murals
temple and a nearby palace (no longer extant) were built by the with further imagery relating to Shiva and his mythology. They
Chola king Rajaraja (r. ca. 985–1014), who conquered large ter-
ritories in southern India, as well as in the Maldive Islands and Sri 2–28 • RAJARAJESHWARA TEMPLE
Lanka, and whose portrait appears twice in his eponymous temple. 1010. Thanjavur (Tanjore), Tamil Nadu.

42 CHAPTER 2 RELIGIOUS ART IN THE AGE OF ROYAL PATRONAGE: THE MEDIEVAL PERIOD

CLOSER LOOK | Chola-Period Sculptures of Shiva Nataraja

In southern India, the art of bronze sculpture was developed to great fire. Thy sacred foot, planted on the ground, gives an abode to
heights, especially in the late tenth and early eleventh centuries. These the tired soul struggling in the toils of causality. It is thy lifted
sculptures were used during festivals when images of a deity would foot that grants eternal bliss to those who approach Thee.
be taken out on parade, or for special ceremonies on auspicious days. These five actions are indeed Thy handiwork.
Particularly associated with this tradition is the image of Shiva dancing
at the center of the universe in his simultaneous aspects of Creator, Within modern museum environments, Chola bronzes are admired
Preserver, and Destroyer. These aspects are conveyed by the objects in plain, unadorned form, but in temples they would have been
he carries—a drum and fire—and by his act of trampling a dwarf. A dressed in silk cloths, garlanded, and painted.
seventeenth-century hymn in Tamil provides one explanation for the
choice of these symbols and the significance of the god’s posture: SHIVA AS THE LORD OF DANCE (NATARAJA)
Chola period, ca. 11th century. Copper alloy, 267⁄8 × 221⁄4″ (68.3 ×
O Lord, thy sacred drum has made and ordered the heavens 56.5 cm). Tamil Nadu; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Gift
and earth and other worlds of innumerable souls. Thy lifted of R. H. Ellsworth Ltd., in honor of Susan Dillon, 1987 (1987.80.1).
hand protects both the conscious and unconscious order of thy
creation. All these worlds are transformed by Thy hand bearing

Encircling Shiva Shiva’s hair is matted,
is a flaming halo like that of an ascetic
that symbolizes who has renounced
the boundaries everything in order
of the cosmos. to achieve spiritual
perfection. Although
In his upper right the god’s pose is static,
hand Shiva holds a it is his flying hair that
drum, from which the reveals his movement.
vibrating sound of
creation emanates. In his upper
left hand Shiva
Shiva’s lower right hand holds the fire that
makes the gesture of destroys samsara,
abhaya, removing fear. the cycle of rebirth,
and maya, illusion.

Pointing to his raised
left foot, Shiva’s lower
left hand signals that
liberation is coming.

The dwarf Apasmara,
representing the illusion that
leads humankind astray, is
trampled by Shiva.

RELIGIOUS ART IN THE AGE OF ROYAL PATRONAGE: THE MEDIEVAL PERIOD CHAPTER 2 43

include groupings of Shiva, Parvati, Nandi, and Vishnu, in addi- 2–29 • DETAIL OF COVER AND LEAF OF AN
tion to saints and images of the king and queen. ILLUSTRATED COPY OF THE ASHTASAHASRIKA
PRAJNAPARAMITA
In addition to painted murals and stone sculptural reliefs, Produced at the Buddhist monastery of Nalanda, Bihar,
bronze statues were also displayed at Chola temples. As at ca. 1097. Pigments on palm leaf. Bodleian Library, Oxford (MS.
Rajarajeshwara, they include groupings of Shiva, Parvati, Nandi, Sanskrit a.7 cover and f.187b).
and Vishnu, in addition to Shaivite saints and images of the king
and queen, but the image of Shiva Nataraja is among the most tied together with a cord running through the center of each page,
iconic images of Indian art (see Closer Look, p. 43). These sculp- rather than a binding along one edge. The pages of these books
tures were made using the lost-wax casting process, so-called were placed between wooden covers that were wrapped in cloth
because the original wax model used during the process gets for storage.
melted and is “lost.” Known to artists around the world, the
technique involves first making a model out of wax. A metal- BUDDHIST PALM-LEAF MANUSCRIPTS
worker would then cover the wax image with layers of clay that OF INDIA AND NEPAL
would act as the mold for the bronze image. The model was fired In common with other art forms of this time, the surviving pro-
in a kiln, causing the wax to melt and run out from the spouts in duction is religious in nature—in this case, Buddhist and Jain.
the clay covering. Hot, liquefied metal would then be poured The former come primarily from eastern India and Nepal,
into the mold through the same spouts, and be allowed to cool where books like the one illustrated here (FIG. 2–29) were cre-
inside it. Once the metal had completely cooled and hardened, ated in monasteries. The text is a Buddhist sutra (sacred script),
the mold would be broken to reveal the metal sculpture inside. the Prajnaparamita, which translates as The Perfection of Wisdom (also
known as the Heart Sutra). Concerning the nature of Buddha-
MEDIEVAL PAINTINGS and bodhisattva-hood, the subject matter does not readily lend
AND MANUSCRIPTS itself to narrative illustration. Nevertheless a series of 18 images
routinely accompany such books: paintings of different Buddhas,
Examples of art to this point have been dominated by objects and bodhisattvas, gods, and goddesses, as well as the eight great events
buildings executed in durable materials, especially stone. Although of the historical Buddha’s life.
illustrated manuscripts must have long been an important
medium, and relief sculptures at temples from at least the sev- The images are usually arranged in groups of three, on six of
enth century show figures holding books, their fragile nature does the pages in the manuscript. This copy, signed with the useful
not allow us to trace their history back any earlier than the tenth information that it was completed at the famous Buddhist uni-
century. These early books differ from the ones read today: They versity at Nalanda in the late eleventh century, has the layout
have pages made of palm leaf that are horizontally oriented and typical of these books. In the center is an image of the Buddha,
hands in the dharmachakra mudra, teaching Indra. This scene is

44 CHAPTER 2 RELIGIOUS ART IN THE AGE OF ROYAL PATRONAGE: THE MEDIEVAL PERIOD

2–30 • THE BODHISATTVA SAMANTABHADRA different Buddhist entities, and includes images of the important
(at left) from an illustrated copy of the Ashtasahasrika Buddhist sites of India, Sri Lanka, China, and Java. As the scribe
Prajnaparamita, 1015 CE. Pigments on palm leaf, height 2″ was copying out the text, he left spaces for inserting illustrations,
(5.25 cm) (approx.). Nepal; Cambridge University Library (Add. and labeled each cartouche (segment containing an image) with
1643, folio 127a). the name of the deity, event, or location to be depicted later by
the illustrator. The painting style is distinctive and suggests the
flanked on the right by the female bodhisattva Jaliniprabha, independent nature of this school of painting. The Nepalese
shown holding a net of wisdom. works are often described as softer and more elegant than their
Indian counterparts. The faces and bodies are rounder, with
The covers of these books often have a more expressive style more subtle shading, than in the paintings from eastern India.
of painting, where the artist was freed from the rules for depict-
ing the deities within. The covers of this book were made in JAIN MANUSCRIPTS OF WESTERN INDIA
Nepal in the twelfth century. It is likely that the book traveled to In western India, the earliest known books are Jain texts, most
Nepal in the hands of monks fleeing the upheaval caused by the often copies of the Kalpasutra, which describes the lives of the
invasions from Afghanistan into northern India in the eleventh 24 Jain tirthankaras, and of the Kalakacharyakatha (Story of Kalaka),
century (see Chapter 3, p. 53). The back cover shows the subject which is about the famous first-century Jain monk Kalaka. In
of the text, the bodhisattva Prajnaparamita, embodying all wis- a folio dated to the late thirteenth century, a monk seated on a
dom and seated on a lion-throne with her adepts (accomplished throne preaches to a male devotee, who clasps his hands in vener-
beings), including Tara, surrounding her. This bodhisattva is ation (FIG. 2–31). In the register below are two nuns in the center,
depicted with four arms—two in the gesture of teaching, the
other two holding a rosary and a palm-leaf book. 2–31 • A SHVETAMBARA MONK INSTRUCTING
A PRINCELY FIGURE
With the arrival of monks from northern India, the exist- Folio from an illustrated copy of the Kalakacharyakatha, 13th
ing practice of painting further blossomed in Nepal, although a century. 23⁄16 × 117⁄8″ (5.6 × 30.2 cm). Gujarat; San Diego
copy of the Prajnaparamita, dated 1015 (FIG. 2–30), is proof that Museum of Art. Edwin Binney 3rd Collection (1990.179).
this was already a well-developed tradition. It has 85 illustra-
tions depicting the eight great events of the Buddha’s life and the

RELIGIOUS ART IN THE AGE OF ROYAL PATRONAGE: THE MEDIEVAL PERIOD CHAPTER 2 45

flanked by two other followers. As this painting demonstrates, the century. Indian textiles were famed around the world from a
depictions of the Jinas and Jain divinities that accompany the text much earlier date, however, and a longer history of their produc-
of these books were highly regulated, as was also the case with tion can be gleaned from indirect sources from Europe and China.
the Buddhist illustrations. Even the monks and worshippers are Mural paintings also give a sense of the variety of fabrics that
standardized types who appear again and again in many other must have been used for clothing and furnishings from ancient
manuscripts: figures with weak chins, sharply pointed noses, and times. Depicted on the walls of Ajanta, for instance, are textiles
protruding eyes.These kinds of image, which do not in fact relate in a variety of patterns made through the processes of tie-dyeing,
to the text, and seem instead to have a magical function, elevate embroidery, and patolu (see p. 47). At a monastery in Ladakh, in
the book to a sacred status. northernmost India, are images of even more cloths (FIG. 2–32).
They were originally painted onto the ceiling of the Sumstek
SOUTH ASIAN TEXTILES Lhakhang (“Three-Tiered Temple”) in the eleventh and twelfth
AND THE INTERNATIONAL centuries, and show an amazing range of designs incorporating
TRADE MARKET human figures, animals, and geometric patterns. It is thought that

Textiles are another class of material that does not preserve well 2–32 • PAINTED PANELS ON THE CEILING
in the Indian climate, and the earliest group dates to the ninth OF THE SUMSTEK LHAKHANG
11th–12th century. Alchi, Ladakh.

46 CHAPTER 2 RELIGIOUS ART IN THE AGE OF ROYAL PATRONAGE: THE MEDIEVAL PERIOD

the paintings represent Indian textiles made by dyeing (see FIG. 2–33 • PATOLU CLOTH (DETAIL)
2–32, left and right panels) and by using the weaving process of Late 18th century. Resist- and mordant-dyed silk, overall 3′67⁄8″
brocade (see FIG. 2–32, center panel). × 15′17⁄8″ (1.09 × 4.62 m). Gujarat (for the Indonesian market);
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Purchase, Friends of
DYED TEXTILES AND THEIR PRODUCTION Asian Art Gifts, 2012 (2012.164).
The known textiles all have patterns created by dyeing and print-
ing plain-woven cotton and silk cloths. For cotton, the dyeing its imagery of royal elephants (FIG. 2–33), would have been
process was complicated, involving multiple steps, many different intended for use at court ceremonies or for clothing of the elite.
materials, and much time and labor. The centers for making this
kind of cloth were located in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, CONNECTIONS TO EGYPT
on the east coast, where fabrics with hand-drawn designs were AND SOUTHEAST ASIA
called kalamkari, or “pen-work” (see Techniques, Chapter 3, p. 71). The early Indian textiles are best known in the context of their
In Gujarat, on the west coast, patterns were printed with wooden trade abroad, because they have survived in such places as Egypt,
blocks carved with the desired patterns. where the dry environment helped to preserve cloths used in
burial, and throughout Southeast Asia, where they were specially
Gujarat also specialized in a special kind of dyed silk fab- cared for and passed from one generation to the next. In both
ric called patolu. For these cloths, the patterns were dyed into regions, Indian fabrics were valuable because of their complex pat-
the threads before they were woven. Threads were set up on terns in multiple colors that, most importantly, did not fade with
a loom, and groups bound together with string; these areas repeated washing.
would not take color when the threads were dipped in a dye
vat. These threads were then placed on the loom in the same Although written records suggest that trade started even ear-
arrangement in which they were dyed so that the pattern was lier, the cloths discovered in Egypt date from the ninth to the
maintained when woven. This method gave the highly desir- seventeenth century. Merchants’ letters from the Egyptian
able result of a cloth with equally strong colors on both sides of city of Fustat state that they were carried both by Indian ships
the fabric. Unlike the dyed cotton cloths, patolu survive only departing from the Gujarati ports of Cambay and Surat, and
from the eighteenth century onward, despite a much longer his- by Arab traders who had settlements along India’s western
tory of production. The long piece of fabric shown here, with coastline. The oldest surviving mosque in India, built in the

RELIGIOUS ART IN THE AGE OF ROYAL PATRONAGE: THE MEDIEVAL PERIOD CHAPTER 2 47

2–34 • FRAGMENT
OF AN INDIAN CLOTH
Radiocarbon-dated 1340
± 40 years. Resist- and
mordant-dyed cotton, block-
printed, 151⁄2 × 9″ (39.5 ×
23 cm). Gujarat (found in
Fustat, Egypt); Ashmolean
Museum, Oxford. Newberry
Collection, EA1990.1129.

mid-twelfth century and located at Bhadresvar, Gujarat, is in textiles are of the fourteenth century. By this date, they were
fact associated with one of these trading communities. being exchanged for spices that could fetch very high prices in
markets around the world. As in the trade to Egypt, merchants
The cloths themselves were from Gujarat, and were decorated of many ethnicities were involved: Indians, Arabs, and from
with repeating floral and geometric patterns (FIG. 2–34), as well the seventeenth century on, Europeans. Aside from the western
as animals, such as the elephant and goose. Their applications Indian ports mentioned above, ports on the eastern coast such
were utilitarian—they were made into clothes, covers, curtains, as Mamallapuram and Pulicat served as the departure point for
and, when worn out, were employed to wrap bodies for burial. ships bound for Southeast and East Asia.

In the case of Southeast Asia, trade appears to have started In contrast to their commonplace role in Egypt, Indian tex-
at least as early as the first century, but the earliest remaining tiles enjoyed a high status in Southeast Asia, and each market
demanded specialized patterns—traders remarked that even a
slight deviation in the desired design of a cloth would lead to

48 CHAPTER 2 RELIGIOUS ART IN THE AGE OF ROYAL PATRONAGE: THE MEDIEVAL PERIOD

a sharp decrease in its price. This was because the fabrics were population of the subcontinent was fairly homogeneous ethni-
used for specific items of dress and in religious and court cer- cally, trade and other political entanglements in the following
emonies. For instance, in Indonesia, Indian cloths such as the centuries would soon bring many new cultures onto Indian soil.
fourteenth-century example shown here were hung from tall
bamboo poles during ceremonies performed to protect a set- CROSS-CULTURAL EXPLORATIONS
tlement from evil (FIG. 2–35). While this textile features rows
of women (probably dancers), others depict trees and plants. 2.1 Do the Gupta-era depictions of Vishnu
Both types have a central field enclosed at either end with sev- (FIG. 2–9) and the Buddha (FIG. 2–15) share any
eral bands of designs, and finally a row of triangular motifs features? Are there similarities in the physical
called tumpal. This format seems to have been one specific to features of the two types? Can you determine
the Indonesian market, although its significance is no longer a difference in the ideals the sculptors were
understood. Entirely different types of cloth were made for the trying to convey?
markets in Burma, Thailand, and even Japan.
2.2 Sculptors and architectural masons of the
During the period between the fifth and twelfth century, period covered in this chapter tended to work
the architectural and sculptural forms first established in early in styles similar to one another. Can you think
Indian history took monumental form. This development of other periods of time in which art produced
toward the bigger and grander is the result of royal patronage. by different artists takes on a similar appear-
While it is not always possible to connect monuments and their ance? Do you think artists of today work in
patrons, and while those outside a royal court could also fund definable regional or international styles?
religious art, it is undeniable that the great royal projects spurred
the innovation and grandeur of the greatest temple projects. By 2.3 The notion of a female goddess is one of long
building or endowing temples, a patron could not only accrue standing in South Asian cultures. How do the
personal religious merit but also attain benefit for the state and understanding and depictions of this being
its subjects through the god’s beneficence. compare from Harappan times (FIG. 1–8) to the
Buddhist (FIG. 2–21) and Hindu (FIG. 2–5) eras?
During this period, India’s trade relations with the out-
side world started to open up, and they would become an even 2.4 Textiles from India were prized in the Middle
greater factor in subsequent centuries. While at this moment the East and Southeast Asia from antiquity.
Why did these textiles have such high value?
2–35 • CEREMONIAL CLOTH AND SACRED Are there comparable items in our society,
HEIRLOOM (MAWA OR MA’A) imported from far away but made to patterns
Dated by inscription to 1500. Resist- and mordant-dyed cotton, and formats of use in our lives?
3′41⁄8″ × 17′61⁄4″ (1.02 × 5.34 m). Gujarat (found in Sulawesi,
Indonesia); National Gallery of Australia, Canberra. Gift of
Michael and Mary Abbott, 1989.

RELIGIOUS ART IN THE AGE OF ROYAL PATRONAGE: THE MEDIEVAL PERIOD CHAPTER 2 49



3

CHAPTER

India Opens to the World:
The Early Modern Period

If there be a paradise on earth, it is this, this time on, illustrated manuscripts, Persian poetry, and
it is this, it is this. domed architecture became an integral part of the Indian canon
(accepted body of works), flourishing alongside and invigo-
Inscribed on a wall of the Private Audience Hall, rating traditional art forms. The portrait shown here, of the
Shahjahanabad (Red Fort), Delhi seventeenth-century emperor Jahangir (FIG. 3–1), epitomizes this
multicultural blend. Evolving from a form of book illustration
The start of the thirteenth century marked a shift in Indian society, common in the Persian cultural sphere, the painting also incor-
as people of Central Asian, Persian, and European descent arrived porates elements from European art—such as the hourglass and
and settled throughout the subcontinent. The first group came putti (small children with wings, similar to the figure of Eros),
overland from the region of Afghanistan during the eleventh cen- and a portrait of the English king James I—and the fine style
tury, and a series of military campaigns eventually led to foreign of portraiture unique to the Mughal workshop. Together they
rule being established in much of the north.As the courts founded are marshaled to demonstrate this Mughal ruler’s spiritual aspi-
by these Central Asian, ethnically Turkic, rulers flourished, other rations; ignoring the European and Ottoman sovereigns seated
peoples from the interconnected Persian-speaking world to which before him, Jahangir showers his attention on the shaykh, a reli-
the Turks belonged also came to India, culminating in the estab- gious leader within the Sufi tradition of Islam.
lishment of the Mughal empire, which at its greatest extent in
the seventeenth century ruled over much of the subcontinent. THE AR RIVAL OF PERSIAN
European traders and missionaries began arriving at the end of the COURT CULTUR E AND THE
fifteenth century. They sought the Indian goods that were valued SPREAD OF ISLAM
in Europe, as well as those items that could be profitably traded in
exchange for spices in Southeast Asia. Ruled by indigenous monarchs through the tenth century, India
and its riches began to attract the interest of neighboring ruling
Along with the languages and religions they introduced into powers in the eleventh century—in particular, the Ghaznavid
the region, these new ethnic groups brought with them new (977–1186) and Ghurid (1000–1215) sultans of Central Asia,
forms of art, which bloomed further in the Indian climate. From who saw the Indian territories to their east as full of potential.
Although entering an already linguistically and ethnically diverse
3–1 • Bichitr JAHANGIR PREFERRING A SUFI realm, the initial Ghaznavid invaders, and the later Ghurid set-
SHAYKH TO KINGS tlers, represented a major change to India’s cultural and religious
Mughal dynasty, ca. 1615–1618. Opaque watercolor, ink, and gold landscape. Ethnically, they were Turkic, and the fact that they are
on paper, height 187⁄8 × 13″ (48 × 33 cm). Freer Gallery of Art, called turuska in the Indian historical sources suggests that to their
Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Purchase (F1942.15). adversaries, at least, this was their distinguishing characteristic.

INDIA OPENS TO THE WORLD: THE EARLY MODERN PERIOD CHAPTER 3 51

They spoke Persian, which had a vocabulary, grammar, and alpha- Though initially simple in structure, mosques gradually grew
bet distinct from the Indian languages. They also brought with more complex. By the time Islam was introduced to the subcon-
them those courtly rituals that were shared among the Persian- tinent, all mosques were built with a niche, called a mihrab, in
speaking rulers of the contiguous regions of Iran, Central Asia, the wall that faces Mecca (the qibla wall), to indicate the direc-
and Afghanistan. tion of prayer. Verses from the Qur’an were used to decorate the
building, along with ornamental stone, stucco (fine plaster),
This royal culture placed a strong emphasis on patronage of and woodwork, although never any kind of figural decoration,
the arts, and it introduced new forms of artistic production into which was deemed inappropriate in this context. Mosques also
India. These included a vast body of literature in Persian and grew in size, with ever bigger domes over the prayer hall and
Arabic, and the practice of illustrating works of poetry and prose larger courtyards attached to the front (FIG. 3–2). Most mosques
with narrative paintings. The new rulers also sponsored public also came to include a minaret (tower), from which the call to
or monumental structures of types different from those previ- prayer (‘adhan) was sung five times a day.
ously found in India: Arched and domed tombs, mosques, and
palaces now became a part of the landscape. This population also 3–2 • QUTB MOSQUE
introduced different styles of dress, the use of pile carpets, and Delhi, Ghurid dynasty, 1192 and later.
new methods for weaving textiles. 1. Enclosure with porticos
2. Arched screen
ISLAM 3. Prayer hall
The Turkic population also brought the religion of Islam with 4. Qutb Minar
them. Islam comes from a system of belief entirely different from 5. Additions built by ‘Ala al-Din Khalji
Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, and must instead be understood 6. Entrance built by ‘Ala al-Din Khalji
in the context of Judaism and Christianity, with which it shares
roots.The three have a core belief in a single god who takes a sin- 2
gle form, who is the creator of life, and who will be the judge of all 3
individuals on Judgment Day. Thus the issue of the soul’s rebirth,
the very foundation of the Indic religions, has no part in Islam. 1

In Muslim belief, the nature of this god and the values he 4
embodied were conveyed to mankind by a series of prophets, 5
including Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and, finally, Muhammad,
considered the final prophet. Muhammad, born in Arabia in 6
the late sixth century, began to receive his revelations from
Allah (meaning “God”) in the year 610. Over the next 22 years,
until his death in 632, he continued to receive these messages,
which he passed to a growing community of believers. These
revelations were initially memorized by Muhammad’s fol-
lowers, but after his death they were written down in the late
seventh century as the text called the Qur’an. The Qur’an is
divided into 114 suras (chapters), which are arranged in order
of length, except for Sura 1, a brief prayer that was placed at
the beginning.

As with the religions previously discussed, Islam required a
specific kind of space for worship—in this case the masjid (liter-
ally “place of prostration”), or mosque, as it is known in English.
The requirements for the building are simple. It must provide a
roofed space for the congregation (originally, only the males of a
community) to gather for individual prayer five times a day, and
for a congregational prayer with a sermon at midday on Fridays.
The building must be oriented toward Mecca, the location of
the Ka’ba, a shrine associated with Abraham, and the holy city
where the Prophet received his first revelations. In the ritual of
Muslim prayer, the worshippers assemble in parallel rows, recit-
ing prayers and verses from the Qur’an while standing, raising
their hands, and prostrating themselves in a prescribed order.

52 CHAPTER 3 INDIA OPENS TO THE WORLD: THE EARLY MODERN PERIOD

THE DELHI SULTANATES AND THE QUTB MOSQUE
THEIR CONTEMPORARIES One of Qutb al-Din’s earliest works was a mosque; mosque
construction had followed many, if not all, of the Ghurid con-
The establishment of foreign rule in India had a buildup of more quests across Pakistan and India. The Qutb Mosque is popularly
than a century. On learning of the wealth stored in the treasur- known as the Quwwat al-Islam, or “Power of Islam,” Mosque,
ies of India’s palaces and temples, the Ghaznavid ruler Mahmud although this label seems to have been attached to the building
(r.  998–1030) launched as many as 17 raids into northwestern only in the nineteenth century (see FIG. 3–2). As with the Ghurid
India in the early eleventh century, attacking and plundering cit- mosques that had been built upon military victories, this one
ies such as Mathura and religious complexes like the Jain temple signaled the authority of a new ruling power and its religious
site of Mount Abu (see Chapter 2, p.  40). His victorious armies affiliation—a message underscored by the addition of a tall and
returned to the capital of Ghazni (in present-day Afghanistan) each highly visible minaret next to the building. However, the building
time, since Mahmud was not interested in establishing a perma- also served as the congregational mosque for Delhi’s new Muslim
nent presence in India. population, a place of gathering, and the focus of Qutb al-Din’s
new city.
After Mahmud’s death, the Ghurids, former vassals of the
Ghaznavids, took over their lands and also their forays into The site today includes many additions made after the 1190s,
India, but this time with an eye to establishing a more perma- but the original mosque consisted of a rectangular enclosure
nent presence there. In 1175 Muhammad Ghuri initiated a with porticos on three sides and a prayer hall with a mihrab on
major campaign of conquest, and after several key victories in the fourth side. The prayer hall is only partially preserved today,
1192, he established a commander at the settlement of Delhi. but was once crowned by a central dome, with smaller domes to
After Muhammad’s death, this commander—Qutb al-Din either side. An elevated chamber was included at one end for the
Aybak—established an independent court, and his successors sultan to pray in.
continued to rule from Delhi until 1290, after which time addi-
tional dynasties succeeded them. After construction was completed, Qutb al-Din sponsored
further changes to the mosque: A new northern entrance was
Once established in Delhi in 1192, Qutb al-Din Aybak added in 1195, and an arched screen was constructed in front
started a transformation of the city. Delhi had been founded in of the prayer hall in 1198. This screen, now better preserved
the tenth century by the Tomar Rajput dynasty from western than the prayer hall to which it once provided entrance, has a
India, but it had remained a relatively minor settlement. From tall central arch framed by an inscription providing the name of
the Ghurid occupation onwards, however, it would become one the patron and the date of construction. Intricately carved veg-
of the region’s major metropolises, serving as the capital for a etal motifs are contained in bands around this and the flanking
succession of dynasties and rulers, and for the modern nation of arches, and additional geometric designs decorate the spandrels
India today. on either side of the main arch (FIG. 3–3).

3–3 •
ORNAMENTATION
ON ARCHED
SCREEN, QUTB
MOSQUE
Delhi, Ghurid dynasty,
1198. Red sandstone.

INDIA OPENS TO THE WORLD: THE EARLY MODERN PERIOD CHAPTER 3 53

Qutb al-Din also started construction of a minaret—called undeniably a charged act aimed at the conquered population, the
the Qutb Minar—next to the mosque (FIG. 3–4). The first story creation of new columns in the same style as the re-used ones
of this flanged (ridged) structure was built during his reign; suggests an adoption of local building practices. And it should be
the next three were added under the sultan Iltutmish (r. 1211– noted that even Hindu kings of the time were known to destroy
1236), and the fifth was constructed as part of repairs undertaken temples when they held a politically symbolic value. This kind
in the mid-1400s. Around the minaret’s lowest story are bands of political symbolism could also be attached to the relocation of
of inscriptions, including text from the Qur’an, the 99 Arabic the Iron Pillar to the mosque’s courtyard. Erected by a ruler of
names for God, and a historical inscription in praise of the the Gupta period, the pillar’s original location was perhaps hun-
Ghurid ruler. dreds of miles away.

The form and decoration of the mosque and minaret struc- Palaces or other buildings that may have been built by
tures can be related to earlier examples of Ghurid architecture, Qutb al-Din Aybak or his successors, the fully independent
but their execution relates directly to local building practices. Mu’izzi dynasty (1206–1290), no longer survive, so this com-
The use of stone, and the fact that the mosque’s arches and domes plex remains the sole legacy of this era. In the subsequent
are constructed by corbelled (bracketed) rather than a truly development of Delhi under the Khalji (1290–1320), Tughluq
arcuate (arched), self-supporting system are its main distin- (1320–1413), Sayyid (1414–1451), and Lodi (1451–1526) sultans,
guishing features, and identify it as the work of local craftsmen. distinct walled settlements that included palaces, administra-
tive structures, mosques, and tombs were constructed. But Qutb
Another feature of the mosque that differentiates it from al-Din’s mosque, in the old heart of the city, continued to hold
the Ghurid buildings of Central Asia is the reuse of many col- symbolic importance. The most ambitious changes to the Qutb
umns from dismantled Hindu and Jain temples, next to new Mosque site were initiated by sultan ‘Ala al-Din Khalji (r. 1296–
columns made to match them. An inscription on an entrance to 1316), who added a new entrance to the mosque enclosure,
the mosque enclosure suggests that the elements from 27 such expanded the prayer hall to triple its original size, and started
buildings were used here. In addition, the entrance to the sul- construction of a second minaret that would have well over-
tan’s private chamber was constructed from the doorframe of shadowed the Qutb Minar. He also established a madrasa, or
a temple, from which the images of deities were chipped away. religious school, within the complex (see FIG. 3–2).
The meaning of this reuse is still to be explained. Whereas it is

3–4 • QUTB MINAR REGIONAL SULTANATES IN THE NORTH
Delhi, Ghurid dynasty, 1199 and later. Outside Delhi, much was changing in the structure of society
and rule of India, for the reach of the Khalji and Tughluq sultans
extended far beyond the northern zone under their direct control.
Sultans of both dynasties sent armies south, east, and west from the
capital city, and succeeded in overpowering nearly all the regional
kings they encountered, moving as far down into the Indian pen-
insula as the city of Madurai in Tamil Nadu. In some cases the
defeated monarch was simply placed back on his throne upon
agreement to pay tribute to the sultan in Delhi. In other cases the
king was replaced by a governor loyal to the Delhi sultan, and the
lands became a province of the Delhi sultanate.

During the course of the fourteenth century, many of these
provinces became sovereign powers as political conditions fluc-
tuated in Delhi, particularly after the city was brutally sacked
by the conqueror Timur (d. 1405), the ruler of a kingdom based
in Samarqand, Uzbekistan. He and his armies swept through
Delhi in 1398, causing mass destruction from which the city,
and the Tughluq dynasty, never fully recovered. After this point,
the process of decentralization quickened and many provinces
became fully independent.

Among the provinces most difficult to control was Mewar, in
the northwestern state of Rajasthan. It was only briefly, between
1303 and 1323, that Mewar was ruled from Delhi; after this
period it came under the control of a local clan—the Sisodias,
who claim descent from the great hero Rama. Mewar flourished

54 CHAPTER 3 INDIA OPENS TO THE WORLD: THE EARLY MODERN PERIOD

3–5 • FORT AT CHITOR
14th century and later. Mewar, Rajasthan.

particularly under King Rana Kumbha (r.  1433–1468), who
expanded the fortress of Chitor, a dramatic site on a cliff several
hundred feet high. Chitor had been established by a legendary
chieftain in the eighth century (FIG. 3–5).

The palatial structures at this site are not located in planned
units; rather, individual halls and rooms are placed at differ-
ent levels according to the terrain, and are often accessible only
by stairs or ramps. The main organizational principle was the
division of private and public zones, and men’s and women’s
quarters, entry into which was strictly regulated. The buildings
themselves were constructed of stone and decorated with carved
stucco; many feature a type of projecting balcony, called a jhar-
okha, which would be used to great effect in the architecture of
the Mughal period.

Also at the site is a unique structure, the Vijay Stambha, com-
pleted in 1460 to commemorate Rana Kumbha’s victory over
the king of Malwa (FIG. 3–6). This nine-story tower was prob-
ably inspired by a tower at Chitor from the thirteenth century.
That tower was built as part of a Jain temple and is dedicated
to the first Jina; it is carved with images of him and the later
Jinas. Covering each story of Rana Kumbha’s tower, on the
other hand, are reliefs of Hindu gods and goddesses, and battle

3–6 • VIJAY STAMBHA
Chitor fort, 1440. Mewar, Rajasthan.

INDIA OPENS TO THE WORLD: THE EARLY MODERN PERIOD CHAPTER 3 55

scenes from the Mahabharata and the Ramayana that refer to the central arch, are all that remain of these towers, which fell after
structure’s function as a victory monument. This message is an earthquake in 1819. Inside, the prayer hall has five aisles, each
reinforced by inscriptions referring to Rana Kumba’s victories, of which faces a mihrab on the qibla wall. A forest of 260 pillars
declaring him an incarnation of Rama. They also mention the divides the space into 15 domed bays of varying size, with the
king’s munificence in providing wells and forts for his subjects, largest preceding the mihrab of the central aisle. Balconies where
and constructing temples and feeding brahmins. the sultan and members of his court may have prayed overlook
the central, tripled-height section.
In the western Indian state of Gujarat, rule from Delhi was
established in 1304, and just over a century later, in 1407, the The construction and decoration of this mosque relate in
governor Zafar Khan declared his independence, establishing a many fascinating ways to the earlier traditions of this area, as
dynasty that would remain in power until 1572. Upon his acces- exemplified by the temples at Modhera and Mount Abu, built
sion in 1410, Zafar Khan’s grandson Ahmad Shah commenced during the reign of the Solanki dynasty (see Chapter 2, p. 40).
construction of his new capital of Ahmadabad. He located his The most visible connection is the treatment of the building’s
palace in an elevated citadel, at the base of which was a large exterior as a series of intricately carved horizontal courses, with
triple-arched gate opening onto a royal processional street. This motifs in the same style and order as on the lower levels of the
street continued past an open field where ceremonies were held, temple façades. In addition, the repetition of miniature forms of
and terminated at a major congregational mosque, next to which the larger building—common in Hindu temple architecture of
Ahmad Shah constructed his tomb. the northern style (see Chapter 2, Context, p. 29)—is also found
on the mosque; in this case, the mihrab niche is repeated on the
In common with the Qutb Mosque in Delhi, the Ahmadabad base of the minaret columns (FIG. 3–7).
Mosque, completed in 1411, consists of a prayer hall preceded by
a large courtyard surrounded by colonnades. In the middle of Gujarat’s stone-carving traditions continued to develop in
the courtyard is a rectangular pool where worshippers can per- new ways in the following centuries. The pierced stone screens
form the requisite cleansing before going to pray. The façade of the Sidi Said Mosque (1573) best symbolize the evolving
of the prayer hall consists of a central section with three tall aesthetic approach (FIG. 3–8). This rather small building is dis-
arches, flanked by two shorter sections with flat roofs supported tinguished by the screens along the upper part of its side and
by pillars. The bases of two minarets, one on either side of the back walls, and particularly those on either side of the mihrab.

3–7 •
CONGREGATIONAL
MOSQUE
1411. Ahmadabad,
Gujarat.

56 CHAPTER 3 INDIA OPENS TO THE WORLD: THE EARLY MODERN PERIOD

3–8 • PIERCED STONE SCREEN, SIDI SAID MOSQUE 3–9 • RUSTAM KILLS THE WHITE DIV
1573. Ahmadabad, Gujarat. ca. 1425–1450. Folio from the “Jainesque” Shahnama, 125⁄8 × 913⁄16″
(32  × 25 cm). Northern India; Museum Rietberg, Zurich. Gift of the
Rietberg Society.

These two screens have graceful trees at their center, from which
branches and arabesques spiral out to create a design of the
utmost delicacy.

THE PAINTING AND LITERARY
TRADITIONS OF NORTHERN INDIA
The emergence of a strong book culture is evident from the
variety of texts that have survived from the period between the
thirteenth and fifteenth century.The practice of creating illustrated
manuscripts had existed in India for many centuries (see Chapter
2, pp. 44–46), but it seems to have been largely limited to religious
works. The literary tastes of the Persian-speaking world invigo-
rated this native tradition, as did the Muslim practice of creating
special copies of the Qur’an, which, although not illustrated, were
enhanced with illumination and calligraphy.

The illustrated books of the period vary in style. Some are
virtually indistinguishable from contemporary works made
in Iran and Central Asia, the result of both artists and manu-
scripts moving between those regions and India. Other books
show quite strong links to earlier local traditions. A manuscript
known as the “Jainesque” Shahnama, made somewhere in north-
ern India in the mid-fifteenth century, is an example of such a
work (FIG. 3–9). The text of this manuscript is the Persian poem
that recounts the tales of the legendary kings of Iran; composed

INDIA OPENS TO THE WORLD: THE EARLY MODERN PERIOD CHAPTER 3 57

ca. 1000, it has been copied and illustrated hundreds of times in 3–11 • Mahmud Shaban (copyist) TUGHLUQ QUR’AN
the Persian-speaking world. 1399. Paper, ink, watercolor, gold, and leather binding colors, 113⁄8 ×
83⁄4″ (28.9 × 22.2 cm). Gwalior; Image courtesy of the Aga Khan Trust
In the episode shown here, the hero Rustam (the bearded fig- for Culture, AKM281 folio 274v-275r.
ure with blue helmet and chain mail) kills the white div (demon)
who has imprisoned and blinded Kay Kavus, the king of Iran. The manuscript was made between about 1495 and 1505
In its layout the page is typical of copies of the Shahnama from at the Mandu book workshop, where both Persian and Indian
Iran. A rectangular area in the center is marked out with ruled artists were employed. In the illustrations, the influence of the
borders; inside it, the rhyming Persian verses are arranged in Persian artists is evident in the use of a half-profile for the fig-
columns around a space left for an illustration. Several other ures, a tall hill in the background, and the patterning of tilework
features, however, come directly out of earlier Indian styles of in the palace structure where the king sits. But the Indian style
painting: The vibrant red background, the eye that projects from comes through especially in the depiction of women, as in the
the far side of the faces, and the depiction of women with small Shahnama just discussed.
waists and full breasts can all be traced to the Jain manuscripts.
Also unusual are the depictions of Rustam, who is more typi- The earliest known Qur’ans from India date to the late four-
cally shown wearing a tiger skin, and the white div, who appears teenth and early fifteenth century, the same period as the earliest
more like a Hindu ascetic than the fearsome demon he is in illustrated manuscripts, and, like them, they combine features
Iranian manuscripts. of books made elsewhere in the Islamic world with uniquely
Indian elements.
One of the most charming productions of the period comes
from Mandu, the capital city of Malwa in west central India. Immediately notable is the type of script employed in India—
The Ni’matnama (Book of Delights) is a series of recipes for food, unlike the canonical scripts used for copying the Qur’an in
aphrodisiacs, perfumes, and medical remedies. The language is other Muslim regions, a unique style of writing called bihari
Urdu, which had developed within the new Persian-speaking was employed through the fifteenth century in India (FIG. 3–11).
population of northern India, and is essentially a form of the In this style, the letters are tall and angular, and the final let-
Indian language of Hindi written in the Persian alphabet, with ter of each word is extended in either a horizontal flourish to
many loan words from Persian. The book is illustrated with 50 the left or a swooping line that curves to the right, back to the
paintings, all showing the Malwa ruler Ghiyath Shahi (r. 1469– beginning of the word. Also particular to these Qur’ans is the
1500) watching as the dishes described in the text are prepared inclusion of Persian commentary, in zigzagging lines of script in
(FIG. 3–10). Here, the dish is a kind of minced meat—qima, or the margins of the page, and the use of many colors of ink, such
keema as it is spelled today. as blue, gold, red, and black. This particular copy, which has an
inscription stating it was completed at the city of Gwalior, also
3–10 • THE PREPARATION OF QIMA has extensive illumination, surrounding the written text in the
folio 71b from the Ni’matnama (detail), ca. 1495–1505. Colors and gold form of geometric and vegetal bands in jewel-like pigments.
on paper, 47⁄8 × 51⁄4″ (12.5 × 13.5 cm). Mandu; British Library, London.

THE DECORATIVE ARTS
OF NORTHERN INDIA
Even rarer than the book arts is evidence of decorative works
from the thirteenth to fifteenth century. From Orissa in the east,

58 CHAPTER 3 INDIA OPENS TO THE WORLD: THE EARLY MODERN PERIOD

however, come several pieces of ivory work that explain the fame THE DECCAN SULTANATES,
of carvers from this region. An ivory throne leg is one of several VIJAYANAGAR A, AND
known, each with a fantastic beast—an elephant-headed lion— SOUTHERN INDIA
grasping a defeated warrior who hangs upside-down from his
trunk (FIG. 3–12). The beast stands astride a rocky outcrop popu- Just as the fragmentation of Tughluq power led to the emergence
lated with tiny trees and antelopes, rams, and boars.The leg might of new ruling powers in northern India, throughout central and
have come from a throne used in royal ceremonies; similar thrones southern India several kingdoms were established during the four-
were also given as gifts to temples, as described by an inscription at teenth and fifteenth centuries after raids from Delhi upset the local
a temple in Puri, Orissa. ruling system. In the central region known as the Deccan, power
was split between the Muslim Bahmani dynasty (1347–1538) and
3–12 • THRONE LEG their five successor states in the north, and the Hindu kings of
Eastern Ganga dynasty, 13th century. Ivory, 133⁄4 × 61⁄8 × 51⁄8″ Vijayanagara (1336–1565) in the south. In the southernmost tip of
(34.9  × 15.7  × 13.2 cm). Orissa; Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian India, the Nayakas of Madurai (1529–1736) rose to prominence in
Institution, Washington, D.C. Gift of Charles Lang Freer (F1907.8). the sixteenth century.

THE SULTANATES OF THE DECCAN
During the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, the Bahmani sul-
tans ruled a large swathe of the Deccan, which they divided into
four provinces, each ruled by a governor. Over time, as the power
of the Bahmani sultans waned, these provincial governors became
increasingly autonomous, and by the early 1500s they had each
proclaimed their independence.

The territories of these new rulers each comprised a local
population that was enriched by Persian and Arab immigrants
drawn to the wealth of this agriculturally fertile and prosperous
region. Adding to the rich ethnic mix were ministers of African
origin who advised the Deccani sultans, and the European trad-
ers who settled at the ports along the Deccani coasts. The arts
flourished under the patronage of these sultans, at the courts
of Bijapur, Golconda, Ahmadnagar, and Ellichpur, as well as at
Bidar, where the former ministers of the Bahmanis held sway.
These artistic traditions were much influenced by the area’s
diverse cultural composition; but although a similar mix existed
in courts to the north, particularly in the Mughal empire, the
resulting artistic production of the Deccan was unique, and
quite distinct from northern Indian art.

Several sultans of the ‘Adil Shahi dynasty of Bijapur (1490–
1686) were remarkable patrons, commissioning portraits and
illustrated manuscripts, and building lofty palaces and mosques.
The most celebrated is Ibrahim ‘Adil Shah II (r.  1580–1627),
who was an accomplished poet and musician as well as a fine
connoisseur of painting. The portrait of him attributed to the
painter Farrukh Husain epitomizes the Deccani aesthetic (see
Closer Look, p. 60). Shaded in pastel pinks, purples, and greens,
and composed of an evocative landscape with a poetic subject, it
differs greatly from the images of royalty promoted by other rul-
ers of the subcontinent (see FIG. 3–1).

Ibrahim was buried in a tomb constructed on the orders of
his wife, Taj Sultan. The tomb is located within a walled enclo-
sure, on a raised platform opposite a small mosque, with a
water tank between them (FIG. 3–13). The exterior of the tomb
is richly decorated with painted patterns (now very faded) and

INDIA OPENS TO THE WORLD: THE EARLY MODERN PERIOD CHAPTER 3 59

CLOSER LOOK | Ibrahim ‘Adil Shah II Hawking

In this painting, Ibrahim ‘Adil Shah II is shown riding in a verdant as such: “The fourth [important] courtier is Maulana Farrukh Husain,
forest, a trained hawk perched on his arm. The image of a king on than whose painting nothing better can be imagined…. That magical
horseback, engaged in the sport of hunting, is a common trope painter has put in motion the breeze which throws aside the veil from
(device) of royal portraits—successful in that it portrays the ruler as the face of the beautiful.” (Translated by N. Ahmad in Zuhuri, Life and
powerful and virile. In this version of the image, however, a different Works, 1953.)
mood is evoked by the choice of colors and the dreaminess of
the landscape setting. It was probably painted by an artist named Farrukh Husain IBRAHIM ‘ADIL SHAH II HAWKING
Farrukh Husain; the word “Farrukh” can be read in a minute signature ca. 1590. Opaque watercolor on paper, 111⁄4 × 61⁄8″ (28.7 ×
on the right side of the page, and we know of an artist by that name 15.6 cm). Bijapur; Institute of Oriental Manuscripts, Russian
from a history of Ibrahim’s reign. This chronicle describes the artist Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg (Ms. E 14, fol. 2).

Pairs of birds and In contrast to
animals are a signature contemporary Mughal
of late sixteenth-century portraits, in which the
works from Bijapur. subject is set against a
plain ground—usually
In each of his portraits, green—here the
Ibrahim has a slightly background is a lush
different appearance, but landscape. The fantastic
he is most often identified rock formations in the
by a rounded face, a distance are a common
slightly hooked nose, and feature of Persian painting,
a receding chin. and derive originally from
Chinese works.

Ibrahim wears a type of
gold brocaded textile that
seems to have been a
specialty of the Deccan in
the late sixteenth century.

60 CHAPTER 3 INDIA OPENS TO THE WORLD: THE EARLY MODERN PERIOD

3–13 • TOMB OF IBRAHIM ‘ADIL SHAH II
ca. 1627. Ibrahim Rauza complex, Bijapur.

numerous inscriptions carved in relief on the building’s surface
(FIG. 3–14). The content of the inscriptions is a mix of Qur’anic
quotations, particularly those regarding the prophet Ibrahim
(Abraham), and Persian and Arabic poetry. Many aspects of the
tomb’s other decoration, especially the carving of the eaves and

3–14 • INSCRIPTIONS ON THE TOMB OF
IBRAHIM ‘ADIL SHAH II

3–15 • DAGGER WITH
ZOOMORPHIC HILT
Second half of the 16th century. Hilt: cast, chased,
and gilded copper, inlaid with rubies; blade: forged
steel, length 155⁄8″ (39.6 cm). Probably Bijapur;
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Purchase,
Lila Acheson Wallace Gift, 2011 (2011.236).

supporting brackets, and the stone chains that were once sus-
pended from them, relate to earlier traditions of the area, and
can be seen in its surviving temples.

In the Deccan a rich tradition of the decorative arts also
flourished. The dagger illustrated here has a shaped and grooved
blade common to the region, but its hilt is composed of a fan-
tastic grouping of animals with blazing rubies for their eyes: A
dragon attacks a tiger who attacks a deer, whose clenched fore-
legs in turn frame a small bird (FIG. 3–15). This unusual type of
dagger features in royal portraits of the ‘Adil Shahi sultans and so
can be directly related to that court.

In the neighboring sultanate of Bidar, a special type of metal
inlay work was developed, known as bidri, after the place of its
origin. The technique involves casting a vessel in the desired
shape from a special alloy of different metals, including the key
ingredient of zinc. Small channels in the form of the desired
design are then chipped out of the vessel and inlaid with brass

INDIA OPENS TO THE WORLD: THE EARLY MODERN PERIOD CHAPTER 3 61

3–16 • BIDRI DISH 3–17 • FLOOR SPREAD FRAGMENT
Second half of the 17th century. Bidri metal inlaid with Late 17th–early 18th century. Resist- and mordant-dyed cotton,
brass, diameter 122⁄3″ (32.2 cm). Deccan; The David 413⁄4 × 54″ (106 × 137 cm). Burhanpur; Victoria & Albert Museum,
Collection, Denmark (16/20110). London.

and/or silver. The surrounding vessel is then covered with a spe- at the hands of the combined forces of the sultanates to their
cial paste that turns the metal a matte black, which contrasts north. Vijayanagara was sacked, and the Aravidus relocated to
with the shiny yellow and silver inlay. Using this basic device, Chandragiri and laterVellore, much farther south.
bidri craftsmen of the seventeenth century created a wide variety
of designs. The tray shown here has a pattern of flowering plants Despite its destruction and subsequent abandonment,
around a central medallion (FIG. 3–16), but geometric motifs and Vijayanagara is still impressive today. The expansive site—
architectural scenes are common as well. covering more than 6,000 acres (2,400 hectares)—was originally
divided into royal and sacred centers, and an adjacent urban core
The Deccan was also known for its kalamkari textiles, which where the majority of the city’s population resided. The royal
involved a laborious process of dyeing (see Techniques, p.  71). center houses numerous palatial structures, many ruined but
The dyers producing this work were based along the eastern others better preserved. Most, such as the stone platforms with
Coromandel coast, and they produced an astonishing range multiple moldings that must have once supported structures of
of fabrics, each designed to suit a particular local market— wood or brick, continued earlier traditions of courtly architec-
in northern India, Southeast Asia, or Europe. A floor spread ture. But other buildings show evidence of influence from the
(FIG. 3–17) with rows of flowering plants was clearly made for Deccani sultans to the north, and, in particular, Bahmani archi-
the Mughal tastes of the Shah Jahan period (see pp.  66–67), tecture and its carved stucco decoration. For instance, a building
and contrasts with the figural hangings made for use at the known today as the Elephant Stables is constructed of stone,
Deccani courts. has an arched façade, and multiple domes—relating much more
closely to buildings at the Bahmani capitals than to earlier royal
THE KINGDOM OF VIJAYANAGARA traditions of this region (FIG. 3–18). Raised above the center of
At the same time that the Bahmani sultans rose to power, the the building is a gallery where musicians once played; above
Hindu Sangama dynasty (1336–1485) established a capital at that might have been a platform for the king to watch parades
Vijayanagara, in the southern Deccan. Three further dynasties— or drills in the plaza in front. His elephants would have been sta-
the Saluvas (1485–1505), Tuluvas (1491–1569), and Aravidus tioned behind the arches below, in the domed rooms that run
(1542–1646)—also ruled from this magnificent city on the the length of the first story.
banks of the Tungabhadra River, a site studded with dramatic
rock formations. In 1565, the Aravidus suffered a grievous defeat The royal center at Vijayanagara is small in comparison to
the much larger sacred center, which is filled with numerous

62 CHAPTER 3 INDIA OPENS TO THE WORLD: THE EARLY MODERN PERIOD

3–18 • ELEPHANT STABLES
Vijayanagara, 14th–early 15th
century. Hampi, Karnataka.

temples and shrines. The site had in fact been chosen for its reli- ceremonies that had become an integral part of religious life.
gious associations, for it had long been connected to the goddess Further, the roofs of temples and the gateways (gopura) into the
Pampa, a personification of the Tungabhadra River and consort precincts increased in height.
of Shiva in his form as Virupaksha. It is also associated with the
stories of the Ramayana, as the location at which Rama met the At Vijayanagara, there are many individual precincts,
monkey leaders Hanuman and Sugriva. each with its own temple and set of subsidiary structures. The
Virupaksha complex is the largest of these, and it has come
The temple architecture of the site reflects both the stylis- back into active use in the present day. At its heart is a temple
tic and devotional developments of the period between the to Shiva, established in the tenth century; a shrine to Pampa,
fourteenth and seventeenth centuries, in which the trends of enlarged in the twelfth century; and various other features that
the Chola era were amplified (see Chapter 2, FIG. 2–28). In this were added when Vijayanagara became the Sangama capital in
period, temple precincts grew considerably, enclosing mul- the fourteenth century. But the most monumental feature of the
tiple structures built to accommodate the many festivals and precinct is its eastern gopura (FIG. 3–19). Built in the sixteenth

3–19 •
VIRUPAKSHA TEMPLE
(gopura on right) Vijayanagara,
10th century and later. Hampi,
Karnataka.

INDIA OPENS TO THE WORLD: THE EARLY MODERN PERIOD CHAPTER 3 63

century by the king Krishnadevaraya (r.  1509–1529), it liter-
ally towers over the smaller temple to Virupaksha to which it
provides an entrance. Its roof is divided into nine horizontal sto-
ries, each with numerous projections and aedicules (openings),
leading up to a barrel-vaulted roof, or sala. Another distinc-
tive feature of the Vijayanagara temples are the long processional
streets, lined with porticos leading out from the temples. These
streets were used during festivals, such as that celebrating the
marriage of Pampa and Virupaksha, when images of the deities
were wheeled out on chariots.

THE NAYAK AS OF MADURAI 3–20 • THE GOPURA AT THE MINAKSHI TEMPLE (DETAIL)
In the early sixteenth century, with an expansion of their territo- 16th century and later. Madurai, Tamil Nadu.
ries into the south, the Vijayanagara kings chose governors to rule
from the provincial capitals of Gingee, Thanjavur, and Madurai.
After the defeat in 1565 of the Vijayanagara king, these governors
became virtually independent, although they still expressed their
power in terms of fealty to theirVijayanagara overlords.

The realms of the Madurai kings, extending down to the
southern end of India, prospered in the sixteenth and seven-
teenth centuries. In their capital city were the twin temples to
Shiva as Sundareshvara and his consort Minakshi, established
centuries earlier and rebuilt and renovated many times. In the
Nayaka period, a huge gopura was added on the south side of
the Minakshi temple, a donation of a wealthy landowner. This
gopura is almost 200 feet (60 meters) tall, with nine stories and
approximately 1,500 gods, goddesses, demons, and guardian fig-
ures modeled from stucco and painted in a vibrant palette (FIG.
3–20). This structure gives some idea what the gopuras of the
Virupaksha and other Vijayanagara temples would have looked
in the city’s heyday.

THE MUGHAL EMPIRE Babur was succeeded by his son Humayun (r. 1530–1540 and
1555–1556). The dynasty’s authority was by no means secure,
Between the rise ofVijayanagara in the fourteenth century and the and in 1540 Sher Shah Suri (d.  1545), the ruler of Bihar and
flourishing of the Nayakas of Madurai in the seventeenth, great Bengal, forced Humayun to flee India and take refuge at the
changes were occurring in the northern part of the subconti- court of the ruler of Persia, Tahmasp I (1514–1576). Humayun
nent. In the 1520s, the Mughal rulers of Central Asia united a vast spent 15  years in exile there, and when he reconquered Delhi
part of northern India into a single empire that they ruled over in 1555, he brought back with him several Iranian artists. His
for three centuries. The empire was founded by Babur, a descen- young son Akbar (r.  1556–1605) succeeded him the following
dant of the legendary conquerors Chinggis Khan (r. 1206–1227) year, and, during his long reign, expanded and solidified con-
and Timur (1336–1405), who had ambitions beyond the province trol over the northern half of the subcontinent, including the
of Fergana (in present-day Uzbekistan) that his family controlled. regions of Rajasthan, Malwa, Gujarat, and Bengal. He also set
Blocked from expanding west by rival cousins, he followed the up a solid system of administration, establishing a stable net-
well-established route southeast into northern India. Babur was work of governors to rule his provinces. During the reigns of
rather unimpressed by India—he complains in his diary about the Akbar’s son Jahangir (r.  1605–1627), grandson Shah Jahan
food and the climate—but like many conquerors before him he (r.  1627–1656), and great-grandson ‘Alamgir (also known as
noted: “The one nice aspect of [India] is that it is a large country Aurangzeb, r. 1656–1707), the empire would extend farther to
with lots of gold and money.”After successfully capturing Delhi in cover most of the southern half of the subcontinent as well, swal-
1526, he made it his base, bringing the area between Afghanistan lowing the Deccani sultanates and most of the former territories
in the east and Bengal in the west under his control. of Vijayanagara.

64 CHAPTER 3 INDIA OPENS TO THE WORLD: THE EARLY MODERN PERIOD

3–21 • PANCH MAHAL ARCHITECTURE OF THE MUGHAL EMPIRE
mid-16th century. Fatehpur Sikri, Agra, Uttar Pradesh. After Humayun’s return to Delhi, the Mughal court moved
repeatedly, according to the seasons and the preference of the
emperors, who built numerous palaces, gardens, mosques, and
tombs across their vast empire. During his reign, Akbar trav-
eled between several capitals in the Delhi area, including that of
Fatehpur Sikri. It was originally a very small settlement, but Akbar
decided to build a fortified palace at the site because it was the
home of the Sufi shaykh, Salim Chishti, who had predicted the
birth of Akbar’s son and heir, Jahangir.

FATEHPUR SIKRI Construction started at Fatehpur Sikri in 1569
and continued over the next decade. There are two components
to the site: a large mosque with the tomb of Salim Chishti at the
southwestern end, and the palace complex at the northeastern
end.This side of Fatehpur Sikri is accessed through the impressive
Elephant Gate, which opens onto a street once flanked by shops
and markets used by the local townspeople, and leading to the
Hall of Public Audience. The one place where contact with the
emperor could be made, this hall is situated on the dividing line
between the public zone of Fatehpur Sikri and the private quarters
of Akbar and his court. Behind this audience hall are numerous
private structures arranged around open courts, all constructed of
red sandstone. Among these is the building known as the Panch
Mahal, or Five-Storied Palace, set on the side of a rectangular
water tank (FIG. 3–21). This open pavilion was probably designed
to provide a shaded place of relaxation, freshened by breezes.

Also in the private zone is an audience hall for meetings
between the emperor and his closest circle of advisors (FIG.
3–22). A rectangular structure with a balcony, pierced stone
screens, and corner chattris (domed, unwalled pavilions or

However, the long years that Shah Jahan and ‘Alamgir spent 3–22 • CENTRAL PLATFORM OF THE PRIVATE
away on campaign, and the costs of those military conquests, AUDIENCE HALL
meant the running of the empire suffered. By mid-16th century. Fatehpur Sikri, Agra, Uttar Pradesh.
the end of ‘Alamgir’s reign, it was in decline.
Delhi was sacked in 1739 by Nadir Shah of
Persia, and the British East India Company
began to take a more active hand in gover-
nance. After an anti-British uprising in 1857,
the British crown seized direct control of the
subcontinent and Mughal rule was officially
extinguished in 1858.

Throughout this period, the Mughal court
and its provincial governors were commit-
ted patrons of all the arts, and they oversaw
a dynamic meeting of foreign and local tra-
ditions, molding them into a distinctive
aesthetic of unparalleled vitality and refine-
ment. It would prove highly influential
throughout the Indian world and beyond.

INDIA OPENS TO THE WORLD: THE EARLY MODERN PERIOD CHAPTER 3 65

this pillar gives it a most unusual appearance—a feature never
repeated in later buildings.

In contrast to the intimate, decorative spaces of the palace
area, the mosque is a massive structure, with a large rectangu-
lar courtyard entered by a tall gate, with porticos on three sides
and a prayer hall on the fourth. In the middle of this sea of red
sandstone sits the elegant white marble tomb of Shaykh Salim
Chishti (d.  1572; FIG. 3–23). Essentially a square space with a
dome on top, it is surrounded on all four sides by pierced screens
of varied geometric design (FIG. 3–24). The projecting eaves of
the roof rest on serpentine brackets so delicate that they hardly
seem capable of support.

3–23 • TOMB OF SHAYKH SALIM CHISHTI SHAH JAHAN AND THE TAJ MAHAL The contrast of building
mid-16th century. Fatehpur Sikri, Agra, Uttar Pradesh. materials in different colors, and of robust architectural forms with
delicate details, is also a characteristic of the architecture of Shah
kiosks) like so many Akbar-period buildings, the interior of Jahan’s reign. In the 1630s, soon after coming to the throne, he
this hall is structured like no other. It is dominated by a cen- completely renovated the fort at Agra, replacing the palaces built
tral pillar supporting a circular platform; the emperor is believed by Akbar and Jahangir with his own.These structures, such as the
to have sat here when receiving his courtiers. He would have Musamman Burj (“Octagonal Tower”), had walls built of white
reached the platform by the walkways that connect it to the sides marble inlaid with multicolored precious stones or carved with
of the building. The massing of sinuous brackets at the top of floral motifs in low relief (FIG. 3–25). The full flowering plant

3–24 • VIEW INSIDE OF TOMB OF
SHAYKH SALIM CHISHTI

66 CHAPTER 3 INDIA OPENS TO THE WORLD: THE EARLY MODERN PERIOD

3–25 • INTERIOR OF
THE MUSAMMAN
BURJ
mid-17th century.
Shahjahanabad, Agra
Fort, Uttar Pradesh.

seen on the lower part of the walls in this room is a decorative sta- faced and from which they were viewed; in this way, the place-
ple of the arts of Shah Jahan’s reign and can be found on luxury ment of the tomb just by the water, rather than at the center of
objects, clothing, and all over architecture of the period. the garden, makes sense.

The culmination of the Mughal architectural aesthetic is the The marble masterpiece stands on a raised platform with tall
Taj Mahal, constructed between 1631 and 1643 as the funer- minarets at each corner. The exterior of the building is square
ary monument for Shah Jahan’s beloved wife, Mumtaz Mahal in shape, with its corners angled to create an octagon, and it has
(FIG. 3–26). The dazzling white tomb is set in a complex that monumental porches in the center of each side. At the center is
includes a walled garden with lofty entry gateways, further gar- an octagonal chamber in which the cenotaphs (commemora-
dens flanking a long central pool, two red sandstone buildings, tive monuments erected when the body is buried elsewhere) of
a mosque, and a guest house. By the time of the Taj Mahal’s Mumtaz Mahal, and later Shah Jahan, were placed. Surrounding
construction, the riverfront at Agra was lined with the plea- it are other, smaller chambers of different shapes and sizes.
sure gardens and palaces of the Mughal court and nobility. As
a result, the river acted like a street onto which the structures The decoration of the building can in many ways be related
to that of Shah Jahan’s palaces, with a highly refined program
3–26 • TAJ MAHAL of inlaid floral patterns created from precious stones and flower-
Agra, 1631–1643. ing plants carved in low relief. In this context, the floral motifs
refer to the heavenly gardens of Paradise, and the theme of the
afterlife is augmented by the calligraphy on the exterior of the
building, with extracts from the Qur’an referring to the Day of
Judgment (FIG. 3–27).

3–27 • DETAIL OF MARBLE INLAY ON THE TAJ MAHAL

INDIA OPENS TO THE WORLD: THE EARLY MODERN PERIOD CHAPTER 3 67

PAINTING FOR THE MUGHAL EMPERORS has come to be considered distinctively Mughal. A manuscript
During the Mughal period, the tradition of manuscript illus- entitled Hamzanama (The Adventures of Hamza) is a fascinating
tration truly took off. Our knowledge of Mughal painting starts product of the early part of Akbar’s reign, and it is key to this
with the reign of Humayun, as nothing survives from the time of development (FIG. 3–29). Production of the Hamzanama was
Babur. Much of what was produced for Humayun was strongly a massive undertaking that took dozens of artists more than
influenced by the work of two Iranian artists who accompanied 15  years to complete: The manuscript originally comprised 14
him back to India—Mir Sayyid ‘Ali and ‘Abd al-Samad. A paint- volumes, each with 100 pages. The paintings in this manuscript
ing that represents a yet-to-be-identified event from Humayun’s are large for Mughal works (approximately 26 × 20 inches/66
reign is typical of the period (FIG. 3–28). Many aspects of this × 51 centimeters), and it appears that they were meant to be
work, such as the landscape with highly sculptured rocks and held up while the stories of Hamza, an uncle of the prophet
trees with pink blossoms, come directly from Iranian painting. It Muhammad, were recited. These legends, popular throughout
also shares with Iranian works the particular manner of depicting the Islamic world, involve a network of heroes, spies, lov-
spatial recession by stacking background features above those in ers, and villains that extends well beyond the historical facts of
the foreground. Hamza’s life.

From these beginnings, the artists at the court of Humayun’s 3–29 • Attributed to Basavana, Shravana, and Tara ASSAD
son Akbar are credited with shaping the style of painting that IBN KARIBA LAUNCHES A NIGHT ATTACK ON THE
CAMP OF MALIK IRAJ
3–28 • Attributed to Dust Muhammad HUMAYUN AND Folio from the Hamzanama, ca. 1564–1569. Ink, opaque watercolor,
HIS BROTHERS IN A LANDSCAPE and gold on cloth; mounted on paper, 27 × 211⁄4″ (66 × 54 cm).
ca. 1546. Opaque watercolor on paper, 153⁄4 × 82⁄3″ (40 × 22 cm). Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Purchase, Rogers Fund,
Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin. 1918 (18.44.1).

68 CHAPTER 3 INDIA OPENS TO THE WORLD: THE EARLY MODERN PERIOD

POINT OF VIEW | Jahangir and the Jahangirnama

In his memoirs, titled the Jahangirnama, the emperor Jahangir while camping in certain areas. What also comes across in these
(r. 1605–1627) recorded the important historical events and accounts is his interest in painters and paintings.
interesting happenings of his reign, along with his personal
observations of those episodes. Subjects range from the outcome The following account is taken from The Jahangirnama: Memoirs
of battles to comments on the behavior of animals he observes of Jahangir, Emperor of India, translated, edited, and annotated by
Wheeler M. Thackston (1999).

Although his Majesty [Babur] wrote in his memoirs of the a masterpiece of the age. In this era he has no equal or peer.
shapes and forms of some animals, apparently he did not Only if Master Abdul-Hayy and Master Bihzad [two famous
order the artists to depict them. Since these animals looked so fifteenth-century artists] were alive today would they be able
extremely strange to me, I both write of them and ordered the to do him justice…
artists to draw their likenesses in the Jahangirnama so that the
astonishment one has at hearing of them would increase by I derive such enjoyment from painting and have such expertise in
seeing them… judging it that, even without the artist’s name being mentioned,
no work of past or present masters can be shown to me that I do
On this date Abu’l Hasan the artist, who had been awarded not instantly recognize who did it. Even if it is a scene of several
the title of Nadiruzzaman [Rarity of the Time], presented a figures and each face is by a different master, I can tell who did
painting he had made for the opening page of the Jahangirnama. which face. If in a single painting different persons have done the
Since it was worthy of praise, he was shown limitless favor. eyes and the eyebrows, I can determine who drew the face and
Without exaggeration, his work is perfect, and his depiction is who made the eyes and eyebrows.

What makes these paintings so remarkable is the sense of Later in his reign, Akbar became interested in books on
action that packs each picture—an atmosphere of excitement history, and commissioned illustrated copies of books that
that has been generated by the use of several different tech- chronicled his own reign, those of his legendary forebears,
niques. In the illustration, Assad, one of the tale’s heroes, is Timur and Chinggis Khan, as well as the history of earlier
shown as an orange-clad figure on a white horse, leading an Muslim dynasties of Iran, Iraq, and Central Asia. Still other
attack against the fortress of an infi-
del ruler. The color palette is bright, manuscripts were Persian trans-
and the figures are large in relation lations of native Hindu epics,
to their architectural and outdoor such as the Mahabharata and the
setting. Their gestures convey Ramayana. The inventiveness of
movement and emotion—aston- Akbar’s painters, and the continu-
ishment, fear, concentration—that ing development of the new painting
is reinforced by the dynamic poses style, are demonstrated in a page
of their bodies. On the other hand, from the Harivamsa (The Legend of
the artists use a manner of depict- Hari [Krishna]) depicting the blue-
ing spatial recession that comes from skinned Krishna holding up Mount
Iranian paintings, and have taken Govardhan to protect the villagers of
advantage of it to juxtapose the con- Braj from the rains sent by the god
trasting patterns of tents, carpets, Indra (FIG. 3–30). The sculptured
bricks, and tilework, heightening rocky formation that represents
the visual excitement. This new
style is the result of the ateliers 3–30 • KRISHNA HOLDS UP
(workshops) at Akbar’s court being MOUNT GOVARDHAN TO SHELTER
staffed by Indian as well as Iranian THE VILLAGERS OF BRAJ
artists. Their collaboration created Folio from the Harivamsa (“The Legend of
a new aesthetic that took elements Hari [Krishna]”), ca. 1590–1595. Ink, opaque
from each tradition and molded watercolor, and gold on paper, 113⁄8 × 77⁄8″
them into a rich and dynamic picto- (28.9 × 20 cm). Metropolitan Museum of
rial vision. Art, New York. Purchase, Edward C. Moore
Jr. Gift, 1928 (28.63.1).

INDIA OPENS TO THE WORLD: THE EARLY MODERN PERIOD CHAPTER 3 69

Mount Govardhan is painted in a manner with a long history While some of Jahangir’s portraits show the emperor defeat-
in Persian painting, with pastel colors and highly articulated ing or overshadowing rival rulers, others play up aspects of his
ridges. The depiction of the figures, by contrast, has no Persian private life and his religiosity. In one metaphor-laden image,
precedents. The individualized portrayal of each character, with Jahangir sits atop an hourglass, presenting a book to Shaykh
distinct facial features, clothing, and body type, is characteristic Husain Chishti, who was head of the Chishti order of Sufis
of the new painting style at Akbar’s court. So, too, is the inclu- in Ajmer (see FIG. 3–1). The painting intends to demonstrate
sion of vignettes unrelated to the main subject of the painting—a Jahangir’s personal and intellectual connections to the shaykh,
white-turbaned man overcome by sleep; a woman resting her which are underscored by the fact that he is ignoring the two
head on her hand and gazing dreamily out at the viewer. other figures in the image—an Ottoman sultan (a general-
ized image rather than a portrait of a specific monarch) and the
Under Akbar’s successors, Jahangir and Shah Jahan, illus- English king James I. Aside from the novel subject matter, paint-
trated manuscripts continued to be produced, but in their ing of the Jahangir period can be distinguished from works
reigns it was the development of portraiture that took center made for Jahangir’s father by a move away from vigorous activity
stage. Working for Jahangir, artists created a series of allegori- and bright colors to an atmosphere of royal serenity and a more
cal (symbolic) images that embodied the emperor’s spiritual and subdued palette.
temporal aspirations. Such paintings, which were not produced
to illustrate the text of a particular manuscript, were pasted onto In the eighteenth century, Mughal court painting took a
sheets of paper with beautifully decorated borders and assembled different turn. Although artists working for the emperor took
into albums, usually along with samples of calligraphy written the names of the famed painters of the Jahangir and Shah Jahan
by famous calligraphers that had been carefully collected by the eras, their paintings were quite different in conception and exe-
Mughal emperors. cution. Kalyan Das, who was known as Chitarman II (after a

3–31 • Attributed to
Chitarman II MUHAMMAD
SHAH IN A PALANQUIN
Mughal dynasty, ca. 1730–
1740. Opaque watercolor and
gold on paper, 153⁄16 × 171⁄16″
(38.6 × 43.4 cm). Museum
of Fine Arts, Boston. Arthur
Mason Knapp Fund (26.283).

70 CHAPTER 3 INDIA OPENS TO THE WORLD: THE EARLY MODERN PERIOD

TECHNIQUES | Mordant and Resist Dyeing

Cloth woven of cotton must be prepared to accept and retain
dyes. In India, this was accomplished by first dipping the cloth
into a mixture of water and juice from the myrobalan fruit,
wetting and drying the cloth several times. A special material
called a mordant, or fixative, was then applied to the cloth with
a stylus (called a qalam or kalam, from the Persian word for
“pen”). After the mordant was applied to the cloth, the dye was
added to the prepared areas with the same block or penlike
tool. By varying the composition of the mordant, the same dye
could yield different results. For instance, a dye derived from
the roots of the madder plant could make red with a mordant
containing alum; black with a mordant containing iron; and
violet and brown with a mordant containing a mixture of both.
Then wax was applied to the entire cloth except for the areas
to be colored blue; these exposed areas would pick up the
color when the cloth was dipped in a vat of indigo dye. Areas
previously dyed red could also be left exposed so that the blue
dye overlaid the red to create the effect of purple. In a similar
way, green was created by applying yellow dye to areas already
stained blue. At the end of the dyeing process, the colors were
fixed by putting the cloth into a vat of water with the root of the
chay plant. The textile shown here was once part of a longer
hanging with several similar panels, and would have taken
weeks to create by this method.

KALAMKARI WITH FIGURES IN AN
ARCHITECTURAL SETTING
ca. 1640–1650. Resist-dyed cotton, painted, 8′31⁄2″ × 6′5″
(2.53 × 1.96 m). Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Gift of Mrs Albert Blum (20.79).

mid-seventeenth-century painter of that name, about whom, of these emperors matched their expensive tastes for carpets of
ironically, we know little today), was in charge of the painting pashmina silk, clothing woven from gold- and silver-wrapped
workshop of the emperor Muhammad Shah. His portrait of the thread, and objects made of rock crystal and nephrite jade, studded
emperor being carried on a palanquin embodies this new style with diamonds and rubies. These are the items we must imagine
(FIG. 3–31). Gone are the wealth of details and intimate nature inside the palaces described above, warming and enlivening their
of the allegorical portraits of Jahangir (see FIG. 3–1). This por- hard stone surfaces.
trait is much larger and makes its impact instead with colors and
composition, but in a manner quite different from that of the Carpet production may have existed before the sixteenth
similarly bold Akbar-period works. Passages of white operate as century in India, but the evidence is slim, and so the emperor
a foil for the warm golds, oranges, and reds of the flowers and Akbar is usually credited with the development of the tradition.
textiles, and the contrasting cool greens of the vegetation. The Carpet workshops in the capitals at Lahore, Agra, and Fatehpur
calm of the activity in the garden is brought into tension by the Sikri were started in the 1580s and 1590s with the assistance of
gold-streaked sunset and gathering clouds on the horizon. weavers from Iran, where carpet-making on a commercial scale
was well established by this time. The Mughal workshops were
DECORATIVE ARTS FROM responsible for producing carpets for the royal palaces, for the
THE MUGHAL COURT tent encampments used by the emperors when traveling, and, to
The textiles and decorative objects associated with the Mughal a lesser extent, for foreign trade. Although the quality and style
court are among the most sumptuous from India:The vast wealth of Indian carpets were much admired in Europe, commerce was
limited because it took several months to produce each one.

INDIA OPENS TO THE WORLD: THE EARLY MODERN PERIOD CHAPTER 3 71

compartments in the border—of a common type of Persian car-
pet. But the central scrolling vine is inhabited by exotic animals
found only in India, such as crocodiles, elephants, and rhinocer-
oses. The deep red palette also distinguishes the Indian carpets
of this era. The modeling of the images on this and other picto-
rial carpets, with figures, animals, and architectural scenes, can
be compared to illustrations in manuscripts of the Akbar period.
This makes sense, as the artists who created the paintings had
their atelier in the palace and created designs for the whole range
of imperial production, from paintings to carpets, and from lux-
ury objects to furniture.

In decorative objects, the Mughals had a taste for jade. This
was inspired in part by the fact that their great ancestor Timur
had prized this material, a rare hardstone that before the eigh-
teenth century was found only in parts of Central Asia and
China. The Mughals collected important Timurid jade objects
and also commissioned new items that, over time, developed a
style very different from their Timurid prototypes. An elegant
wine cup belonging to Shah Jahan, sized perfectly to fit in the
palm of the hand, derives its shape from Chinese wine cups
that have a gourdlike form with a ribbed interior (FIG. 3–33).
However, the naturalistic ram’s head in which the stem of the

3–33 • WINE CUP OF SHAH JAHAN
Mughal dynasty, 1657. White nephrite jade, 73⁄8 × 51⁄2″ (18.7 × 14 cm).
Northern India; Victoria & Albert Museum, London.

3–32 • CARPET WITH PATTERN OF
SCROLLING VINES AND ANIMALS
ca. 1625. Wool pile on cotton warp and cotton weft, 13′73⁄4″ ×
6′33⁄16″ (4.16 × 1.91 m). Northwest India; National Gallery of Art,
Washington, D.C. Widener Collection (1942.9.475).

Because of the connections to weavers from Iran, most of the
early carpets from India have Persianate designs. A very large
carpet, probably for an audience hall (FIG. 3–32), has the basic
structure—a scrolling vine in the main field, a patchwork of

72 CHAPTER 3 INDIA OPENS TO THE WORLD: THE EARLY MODERN PERIOD

3–34 • MANGO-SHAPED FLASK gourd terminates was borrowed from seventeenth-century
Mughal dynasty, mid-17th century. Rock crystal, set with gold, European decorative arts; this had been a popular type of fin-
enamel, rubies, and emeralds, height 21⁄2″ (6.5 cm). Metropolitan ial in Europe since antiquity. The connection to Timur comes
Museum of Art, New York. Purchase, Mrs. Charles Wrightsman Gift, through in a third decorative element of the cup, an inscription
1993 (1993.18). giving Shah Jahan’s title, “Second Lord of the Conjunction,”
imitating Timur’s title, “Lord of the Conjunction,” chosen
3–35 • WRITING BOX because his birth was at the exact moment of an auspicious con-
1587. Lacquered teak and mother-of-pearl, 33⁄8 × 41⁄4 × 141⁄4″ junction of two favorable planets.
(8.7 × 10.8 × 36.2 cm). Gujarat; Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian
Institution, Washington, D.C. (F1986.589-c). Rock crystal is another extremely hard material that, like
jade, can be shaped only by using abrasives to wear away the
excess material. With this in mind, the range of rock crystal ves-
sels created in the Mughal period—hollow in the interior and
delicately shaped on the exterior—is all the more impressive. A
small mango-shaped flask (FIG. 3–34) is embellished with rubies
and emeralds set in a bed of specially purified gold called kundan.
Such gold was refined to the point at which it was soft at room
temperature, so that it would adhere to both gems and the object
to be inlaid. This flask might have once held perfume.

Outside the court, workshops throughout the country cre-
ated a variety of goods, with each region specializing in different
materials and utilizing unique decorative motifs. From Bengal
came monochrome quilts embroidered with mythological
scenes, and from the southeastern Coromandel coast came the
kalamkaris described above (see Techniques, p. 71 and FIG. 3–17).
The region of Gujarat produced colorful embroidery and objects
inlaid with mother-of-pearl. The individual inlaid elements,
the material for which was culled from the interior of mollusk
shells, were carved or worn away by acid to achieve the desired
shape, and then polished to a shine. The writing box shown here
belongs to a larger group, thought to have been made for export
to the Middle East (FIG. 3–35). The background decoration
includes spiraling vines, geometric designs, and small figures;
these elements frame Persian verses that refer to pens and writ-
ing, and thereby the function of the box.

INDIA OPENS TO THE WORLD: THE EARLY MODERN PERIOD CHAPTER 3 73

EUROPEANS AND
EUROPEAN ART IN INDIA

Another cultural stream introduced into India in the sixteenth 3–36 • EUROPEANS BRING GIFTS TO SHAH JAHAN
century came from Europe, after Portuguese explorer Vasco da Folio from the Padshahnama, 1657. Ink, opaque watercolor, and
Gama’s discovery in 1498 of a shipping route directly from Europe gold on paper, 231⁄16 × 141⁄2″ (58.6 × 36.8 cm). Royal Library,
to eastern Asia. This route, passing around the southern tip of Windsor Castle (RL OMS 1621, f.43b).
Africa, greatly facilitated mercantile exchanges between the two
regions. It also allowed European trading companies to convey Japanese black namban lacquerware. (Namban is a Japanese term
desired Asian goods themselves, rather than awaiting their arrival for Europeans meaning “southern barbarians.” It refers in this
via overland routes that operated at the mercy of foreign gov- case to lacquerware intended for export; for Namban screens see
ernments and were subject to heavy taxes. As a result, traders and also Chapter 14, pp. 346–347.)
diplomats representing different European nations started arriv-
ing on Indian shores to negotiate and coordinate this enormously However, the many oil paintings and engravings sent from
lucrative trade. Europe had a more long-lasting effect, eliciting a range of
responses from Indian artists. On the one hand, they took
The first to come were the Portuguese, who by 1510 had an interest in the techniques employed by European artists,
established a colony at Goa, on India’s west coast, not far from such as rendering the volume of objects and people by model-
Mumbai. Within a few years they had also settled on the east ing and shading. Scholars have also attributed a greater interest
coast near Calcutta at Hughli. Eventually the Portuguese would in accurate portraiture to a study of European paintings, espe-
be eclipsed by the English East India Company, which received cially the portraits sent by the monarchs of England and
its charter in 1600, and the Dutch East India Company, which the Netherlands.
commenced operations in 1602. The French state sponsored its
first voyage in 1603 and eventually established a settlement at But just as interesting to local artists was the subject matter
Pondicherry, but their commercial presence was limited. of the European works. A Mughal copy of The Deposition from
the Cross is based on an engraving of a painting by the Italian
Operating from the permitted ports on the west and east coasts Renaissance artist Raphael (FIG. 3–37). In it we see the Indian
of the subcontinent, some of the major items these traders sought artist attempting to capture the emotional tenor of the moment,
were Indian textiles, particularly the aforementioned types from conveyed by the posture, gestures, and expressions of the figures
Gujarat, Bengal, and the Coromandel. These were prized back in the scene. He revels in depicting their flowing drapery, which
home as well as in Southeast Asia, where they could be traded for flutters from every part of the image. Moving from early works
the spices that fetched very high prices in Europe.

Although the role of these European traders changed over
the course of the seventeenth century (see Chapter 4, p.  81),
the trade agreements were initially mutually beneficial, and the
meeting of the two cultures was one of reciprocal curiosity. The
quality of Indian handiwork and the splendor of the Mughal
court impressed the Europeans, while European religions and
habits were of particular interest to the Indians. The emperor
Akbar invited Jesuit priests to his court and held debates among
Christian, Hindu, and Muslim theologians at a specially built
House of Worship at Fatehpur Sikri. European figures, in their
distinctive dress, started to appear in paintings, as in a depic-
tion of an event in 1633 at the court of Shah Jahan (FIG. 3–36),
in which Portuguese men paying obeisance to the emperor are
depicted in their distinctive black brimmed hats, collar ruffs, and
voluminous breeches.

The art of Europe was another source of fascination. The
representatives of the different companies to the various courts
of India brought gifts to the rulers with whom they wished to
negotiate. The exotic nature of these items was often their most
valuable quality: Akbar was sent a pipe organ along with a musi-
cian who could play it, while the Portuguese supplicants in the
Shah Jahan painting present a box and trays that appear to be

74 CHAPTER 3 INDIA OPENS TO THE WORLD: THE EARLY MODERN PERIOD